Design Excellence and Metal Building-ness

by Paul Deffenbaugh | August 1, 2022 12:00 am

I believe if I asked a metal building what it wants, it would reply, “I like a metal building.” It would want to express its integrity, inherent properties, structure and envelope. Stripping away preconceived notions of metal buildings, I am in awe of their potential, even though they are often overlooked by architects. I find the pure simplicity, clarity and authenticity of the inherently modern system compelling.

Of course, metal buildings have other advantages, including cost, construction time and single source of structure and envelope. By combining these obvious benefits of an optimized system with a creative approach, a metal building can be elevated to design excellence. In my practice, I strive for design excellence in every project, especially metal buildings.

Metal buildings have constraints just like the brick. Once the designer embraces these limitations and possibilities, it can result in creative design decisions.

Metal buildings have constraints just like the brick. Once the designer embraces these limitations and possibilities, it can result in creative design decisions. I look for the opportunities that make meaningful impacts on the design, such as the texture and finish of the metal skin, large openings and expression of the structure. These simple moves that support the system equate to what I like to call “metal building-ness.”

Last month, I had the honor of being one of the jurors for the annual Metal Architecture Design Awards. Much of the discourse about the quality of the projects revolved around the use of metal and its support of the overall building design. Some of the most interesting conversations were about the metal building submittals. A few of the metal building design submittals were unrecognizable as a metal building. For me, this was confounding in context to Kahn’s allegory. The metal buildings that rose to the top in the awards discussion were projects that expressed their “metal building-ness.” The projects were unmistakably, unapologetically metal buildings. They were honest expressions of material and structural systems crafted by architects that understand and appreciate the system. There was no hiding the fact that they were metal buildings, but instead the designs celebrated the metal building component.

This year’s winner of the Metal Building category, Woodinville Whiskey Barrel Storage Facility by Graham Baba Architects, was an outstanding example of a light-but-masterful touch by the designer, expressing the rigid frame and using a standing seam metal roof and wall panel. The design was sophisticated, well-scaled and a beautiful addition to the landscape, all accomplished by a metal building.

According to the Metal Building Manufacturer’s Association, 34% of all low-rise construction in the U.S. utilizes a pre-engineered metal building system. I see this as a great opportunity for the design and construction industry to enhance the quality and experience of our built environment. We don’t need bigger budgets and different building systems; we just need to ask the metal building, “What does it want?”

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Mark Roddy, FAIA, is principal of Mark Roddy Architects[1], Sacramento, Calif. He is also a lecturer within the Department of Design at California State University, Sacramento. Formerly a partner and design director with SmithGroup, Roddy is recognized as a prolific designer and thought leader. Roddy was inducted into the American Institute of Architects’ prestigious College of Fellows in 2014. His projects have won more than 60 design awards including a 2008 Metal Architecture Design Award for metal buildings for an addition to a historic home in downtown Phoenix.

Source URL: https://www.metalarchitecture.com/articles/design-excellence-and-metal-building-ness/

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