A Harmonious Connection

by Mark Robins | May 2, 2022 12:00 am

JRA Architects, with offices in Lexington and Louisville, Ky., is one of the Kentucky’s largest, oldest and most respected architectural and planning firms. The firm was started in 1946 by Bill Brock, a native Lexingtonian and Ernst Johnson who met while students at Yale University. Byron Romanowitz became a partner with Ernst Johnson and the firm name changed to Johnson/Romanowitz/Architects in 1962.

Starting in 2013, JRA Architects entered into its fourth generation of ownership, led by Deal with a new focus to re-tool, re-energize and re-focus the firm’s direction. Since then, JRA has grown over 30%. It is now singularly focused on shaping its clients’ visions into spaces that create functional, transformative, inspirational, memorable, fun, invigorating, productive experiences.

“Custom-formed metal panels offer our designers a limitless set of options for cladding, where richness of texture, geometry or color are paramount to the design solution.”
Colin Drake, AIA, LEED AP, principal at JRA Architects

METAL LEVERAGE

Metal helps JRA Architects’ clients’ visions. “We leverage metal structural components for their ability to achieve long spans, open up expansive views to the exterior and maximize usable interior space,” Deal says. “Metal glazing systems offer a robust breadth of value and performance, from the utilitarian to the monumental. Metal cladding offers simplicity, minimal resource consumption and infinite design permutations that we can shape into solutions that suit every aesthetic. Pre-engineered metal buildings are the ideal solution for certain project types and we’ve utilized them on project types ranging from industrial to institutional to religious”

Custom-formed, single-skin and metal composite material (MCM) cladding have all aided JRA’s projects. “We look to MCM when we want a flush, panelized appearance, like our recently completed University of Louisville Belknap Residence Hall,” says Colin Drake, AIA, LEED AP, principal at JRA Architects. “MCM gave us custom color capability to sheath the building’s signature features in UofL red. We appreciate the practicality of single-skin metal cladding to get envelopes closed in rapidly regardless of weather conditions and minimize the number of trades mobilized on-site.” At this residence hall, a zig-zag building configuration shapes and enhances existing campus open space, and provides new spaces for students to recreate, study, socialize and enjoy the campus landscape. Outdoor rooms not only have a direct relationship with the existing campus, but also extend the interior program of the building out into the campus, creating a seamless visual and physical relationship.

JRA has capitalized on insulated metal panels (IMPs) both as envelope substrate and as architectural cladding, particularly where speed of construction is paramount. “We often leverage IMPs when we have streamlined building massing or a need to minimize cladding dead load, and enjoy the ability to limit visible joints and clad large areas with each panel,” says Marty Merkel, AIA, LEED AP, associate at JRA Architects.

Both single-skin and IMPs were essential to JRA’s LEED Platinum-certified Ecofibre U.S. headquarters, Georgetown, Ky., (the nation’s first LEED Platinum warehouse and distribution center) due to the project’s incredibly aggressive project schedule. Not only in terms of installation speed, but JRA was also able to capitalize on a variety of panel types—from long-span industrial to panelized commercial—to design the building exterior. “Custom-formed metal panels offer our designers a limitless set of options for cladding, where richness of texture, geometry or color are paramount to the design solution,” Drake says.

“The most gratifying element of this Ecofibre project is knowing we created a space—integrating sustainable building prin ciples at every turn—that will truly improve our client’s business,” Merkel says.

JRA’s recently completed Louisville-based Saint Xavier High School Sangalli Learning Center made use of micro-embossed, parallelogram-shaped, flat lock panels in three different colors,” Drake says. “We also used conventional aluminum extrusions to create a collage of diagonal accent stripes that streak across the exterior, resulting in a remarkably simple solution despite its unique appearance.”

CIVIC MINDED

The majority of JRA’s work is for public-facing clients: civic institutions like libraries or courthouses, educational facilities from elementary to university, health care at all levels, and commercial businesses.

“No matter the project type, we’re always looking for ways to create a harmonious connection between a building’s interior and its surrounding environment,” says Tim Graviss, AIA, vice president at JRA. “Extending exterior cladding through the interior, like at St. Xavier High School or the South Central Regional Library, creates literal visual continuity, but also encourages building users to approach and understand that material in a way that they never would outside.”

JRA co-designed the Southwest Regional Library in Louisville, overall winner in the 2014 Metal Construction News Building and Roofing Awards. It was the first of three Louisville-based libraries JRA designed in partnership with Minneapolis-based Meyer, Scherer & Rockcastle, and Louisville-based landscape architect MKSK. Broken into five distinct forms reminiscent of traditional streetscape scale, the building appears like a stage with the metal paneling serving as curtains pulled back to reveal interior activity. “Overall, the façade is like a village of buildings set side by side,” Drake says. “As visitors cross the custom-designed, weathering steel bridge, the building is more humane and approachable than a monolithic façade would have been.”

JRA strives to design its work with durability not typical of most commercial development. “These are 50- to 100-year buildings that have to stand the test of time,” Graviss says. “So, metal is one of those solutions we look to. We are cognizant of the limited funding available for most public projects—whether meeting approval at the state, city or county level, or even at a school district level, we want to be responsible with the civic dollars that are entrusted to us. We always have to work intelligently with clients to make sure they understand the long-term value of building materials like metal roofing or cladding. You may have more up-front cost, but the long-term you get out of these systems pay themselves back multiple times over the life of the project.”

SURROUNDING CONTEXT

Designers at JRA have spent the past 10 to 15 years pushing their work to be deeply contextual, and optimizing community value. They honor projects’ surroundings, letting existing structures, natural features and topography of the site, and climate-specific best practices drive the resulting design.

“Deeply integrating our design solution with its context ends up yielding the most compelling results,” Drake says. “Every site has unique opportunities and challenges, and our team of clients and consultants bring their unique perspectives, so our mission is to synthesize this data into a profoundly project-specific concept. In particular, integrating the skill and expertise of our landscape architects into the design process guarantees a cohesive approach to site and building. Together, the two can inspire one another and create a more meaningful solution.”

Merkel explains the richness of cladding materials like stone, wood and especially metal, invites users to notice the subtleties of the surface, the precision of the craftsmanship, and the vibrancy of the finished surface. “That experience of first impression, followed by approach and discovery of more subtle detailing, was one of the driving forces behind our use of microembossing across numerous projects.

Not only does the texture allow us to use lighter gauge metal to minimize our natural resource consumption, but also delivers a smoother finished appearance with tactile richness.”

Graviss explains that JRA is always looking to find ways to have the spaces in projects’ public areas make connections to the outdoors. “The ability for metal to create large, long-span openings can really open up the interior to great views and celebrate the interior activity outside.”

SUSTAINABILITY

At JRA Architects, sustainability is more than just a checked box or a LEED certification. The firm looks holistically at the entire building and its site to embrace sustainable principles throughout. Daylighting via clerestory windows, overhead daylight solar tubes or strategically placed glazing always is a baseline goal for their sustainable approach.

“Our determination is always to find the best application for materials on a particular project,” Drake says. “We might look to other structural systems if thermal mass and punched windows are a priority, but leverage metal structure where interiors need to remain unobstructed or large glazing areas are needed, like in the University of Louisville Belknap Residence Hall. Conversely, when daylighting and long spans are top sustainability requirements, we might leverage metal across the board, like we’ve done at Louisville’s three regional libraries.”

“Energy efficiency here in Kentucky has long been affected by the blessing and curse of cheap fossil fuel-derived energy,” Drake says. “Despite that value, we still push envelope and energy efficiency at every opportunity, as it ultimately sets our clients up for rapid payback on their investment, and helps minimize future utility and maintenance costs. We’ve had great success with geothermal mechanical systems, and have several expert consultants who continue to push innovative strategies to improve efficiency and extend equipment service life. We designed the first Energy Star-certified courthouse in Kentucky at a time when there were only nine in the country. Every judicial center we’ve done over the subsequent 20 years is Energy Star certified, and in that time delivered the state’s first LEED-certified justice center. That commitment extends to every one of our core markets, integrating sustainability without additional cost and delivering measurable performance results.”

Source URL: https://www.metalarchitecture.com/articles/a-harmonious-connection/

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