A strong form and custom-colored ribbed metal panels help pediatric office stand out from the crowd
The bright red ribbed metal panels help the Harvey Pediatric Clinic stand out both in its home of Rogers, Ark., and in the mind of our Design Award judges, who liked the use of color. One of the judges stated that the project feels very contemporary and inventive, and appropriate for a pediatric clinic. Another judge said he appreciated the project’s use of the dichotomy between the horizontal building and the vertical metal striations, noting that the project is playful, fun and seems to be a good use of the form and the material together.
This is exactly what the owner, Dr. Bryan Harvey, had in mind when he approached Marlon Blackwell Architects, Fayetteville, Ark., to design his new medical office. Justin Hershberger, AIA, project manager at Marlon Blackwell Architects, says Harvey wanted a landmark building that would create a strong presence for his practice in a nondescript suburban landscape.
A Singular Presence
With its strong form and bold colors, the new Harvey Pediatric Clinic seeks to rise above the everyday structures, establishing a new visual landmark along Rogers’ main commercial corridor. When designing the building, Hershberger says they started by thinking about the previously rural landscape that was dotted with the silhouettes of singular buildings such as barns, sheds, silos, etc. “We wanted to harken back to those objects and create a singular presence in what has now become a very suburban, and ultimately, banal landscape with a lot of very beige buildings that have a lot of materials,” Hershberger explains. “So as a counter to that we used a very singular figure with singular materials.”
The new facility creates an easily recognizable identity for the practice, and acts essentially as a billboard for everybody who passes by that area. “Dr. Harvey is a pediatrician, so the kids really recognize the strong form and the strong use of color,” Hershberger says. “They can identify his building as a place of healing and wellness.”
A Strong Form
In an effort to streamline the doctor’s operations, the designers began by looking at not only his program and what he needed within the facility, but also how his staff and patients could interact more efficiently. “As we started developing, we came pretty quickly to this idea of a long building, where staff would enter on one side and the patients would enter on the other, and meet in the middle in the exam rooms,” Hershberger explains.
Once they settled on a long form, the designers went through several iterations of the elevation and the formal strategy of playing with the idea of a singular figure. Since Harvey wanted some tenant spaces incorporated into the massing of the building, Hershberger says they put those on the first level, wrapped in glass. This allowed the designers to elevate Harvey’s practice, which is on the second level, while reinforcing the figure.
“As the design focused on creating an abstract figure, we wanted the material to read as a skin, instead of using it to reinforce the horizontality of the form,” Hershberger notes. “When used vertically, the panels have that reading-it creates a surface rather than a striation.”
A Subtle Contrast
To reinforce the building design, the south façade is wrapped in a box rib metal in a custom Cayenne color, which also shows up on the south side of the fins located on the east side of the building. The north elevation features weathered zinc panels in the same box rib profile, while a flat panel wraps up the back of the building and is used as the soffit, creating a subtle contrast to the texture of the north and south elevations.
The project used a total of 12,518 square feet of Bristol, Conn.-based Morin Corp.‘s box rib metal wall panels, supplied by J.D. Day & Co., Blue Springs, Mo. The 20-gauge, roll-formed steel panels have 90-degree vertical box ribs at 4 inches on-center with 1 1/2-inch rib heights. Finished in a custom Cayenne PVDF Kynar 500 finish, the panels were installed vertically with concealed fasteners. Additionally, J.D. Day supplied Morin’s 20-gauge, roll-formed steel flat seam panels with an 8-inch exposure and 1 1/2-inch rib height with a PVDF Kynar 500 finish in Weathered Zinc, which were installed vertically with concealed fasteners.
“The color helps reinforce the idea of the billboard,” Hershberger says, “and the identity and the silhouette of the project as a whole.” And, the custom Cayenne has a mica coating, which gives it a little bit of sparkle. “Throughout the day, the sun really plays great across the broad surface,” he adds. “It really changes the color from morning to midday to afternoon, and the ribbing of that helps reinforce that.”
A Natural Connection
The building also features several skylights. A blue glass skylight washes over a concealed staircase on the east side of the building, providing what Hershberger notes is a threshold from the outside environment, as patients make their way up to the second floor.
Additionally, a thin skylight stretches the length of the building along the solid south facade, bringing light and a connection to the outside into the middle of the building. According to Hershberger, Harvey wanted to be able to connect people with the outside. “It’s really about providing these moments to bring light deep into the building,” he adds.
Kawneer Co. Inc., Norcross, Ga., supplied the skylight frames, which are custom colored to match the weathered zinc. The glass is from Vitro Architectural Glass (formerly PPG Glass), Pittsburgh. ACE Glass Construction Corp., Little Rock, Ark., was the local subcontractor for the skylights.
Harvey Pediatric Clinic, Rogers, Ark.
Completed: May 2016
Total square footage: 15,493 square feet
Owner: Dr. Bryan Harvey, Pediatric Workplaces LLC
Architect: Marlon Blackwell Architects, Fayetteville, Ark., www.marlonblackwell.com
General contractor/metal installer: SSI Inc., Fort Smith, Ark., ssigc.com
Glazing contractor: ACE Glass Construction Corp., Little Rock, Ark., www.aceglass.net
Manufacturer’s representative: J.D. Day & Co., Blue Springs, Mo., www.jddaycompany.com
Metal wall panels: Morin Corp., a Kingspan Group company, Bristol, Conn., www.morincorp.com
Skylights: Kawneer Co. Inc., Norcross, Ga., www.kawneer.com
Skylight glazing: Vitro Architectural Glass (formerly PPG Glass), Pittsburgh, www.vitroglazings.com
Photos: Tim Hursley