A metal building system serves the varied needs of an engaged community
When designing a community building it can be a challenge to meet all the functional needs of the building as well as the varied attitudes of the community itself. Alan Cross, AIA, LEED AP, founding partner at San Francisco-based PROTOinc, understands this better than most. When the firm began work on a new community center for the City of Lafayette, Calif., at first it was supposed to be a renovation of an existing school building that had a multipurpose room and was part of a campus of buildings.
“Lafayette is a very nice community,” Cross says, “with good schools and a pretty desirable place to live. Because of that, the citizens are highly involved in how the city is spending its money. Tax payers want to make sure they’re spending wisely.”
In those circumstances, PROTOinc was charged with reworking a building that served a huge variety of users and generated revenue for the city. “It’s a multipurpose space,” Cross says, “Dog obedience classes. Toddler soccer. Wedding receptions, junior high dances.” All those users had a vested interest in seeing the community center meet their needs.
First Try
The design team went through an initial exercise to renovate the original building but settled on constructing a new metal building because it would be more cost effective. One of the big drivers of the decision was the need for a accelerated construction schedule because the city would be losing revenue from the building while it was out of commission.
“Our initial impulse was to be deferential and make the new building look like the existing campus,” says Cross. “We disguised it as a metal building.” During the meeting with the design committee, that changed. “To their credit,” he says, “they urged us to embrace its metal buildingness. We were trying to be polite, but it was really nice to have that charge or license to embrace more of the metal buildingness.”
The result, according to one of the 2016 Metal Architecture Design Award judges, is a building that is “simple. A very, very direct application but it doesn’t look literally like a metal building. Especially the way they brought in the daylight.”
PROTOinc went back to the drawing board, and worked to “have more fun and exuberance,” says Cross. “We wanted to design something that the folks in Lafayette could get excited about. Something where daylight could flood in. And when they drove by in the evening, it would be like a lantern or beacon.”
During this time, Diede Construction, Lodi, Calif., worked with the designers to supply costing and engineering information for the metal building, which was supplied by CBC Steel Buildings, Lathrop, Calif. There was some complexity to the building because of the two custom canopies on either end, which required coordination of multiple engineers.
A Complete Design
One of the defining characteristics of the metal building design is the line that encircles that entire building at the 10-foot mark, which Cross refers to as a datum. The line serves as a reference point for the other elements and, because of its consistency, helps organize the building.
On the exterior, it defines the lines for the two canopies and signifies a transition from the bottom portion of the building to the upper section. That transition is further highlighted by cladding decisions. Below the 10-foot line, the designers specified HR36 horizontal ribbed panels from AEP Span, Fontana, Calif., and above the line used flat Prestige Line panels, also from AEP Span. The roof features insulated metal panels from All Weather Insulated Panels, Vacaville, Calif.
The fenestration keeps to the line as well, except in the entry where it extends above, giving height to building and airiness under the long, cantilevered roof.
The organization goes beyond just the visual definitions of the building, though. On the interior, it served as a demarcation between those parts of the metal building that need protection. “We wanted to be selective and smart where we were concealing things,” Cross says. Below the line, the columns and other hard edges of the metal building are protected by an inset wall that can withstand the hard hits of a well-struck soccer ball and prevent a child from banging against an unmoving steel column. “On the interior,” Cross says, “we created a 10-foot polite zone. Above that we exposed the guts of the building.”
A Soaring Roof
The original design for the metal building included just a gable roof, “and we were happy with the direction that was going,” says Cross. “But when we created the model it became clear. The traditional model showed the roof was too snug, way too close to the existing building next to it. We needed a little more breathing room.”
Adopting the butterfly roof gives breathing room between the buildings, but it also heightens the building and gives it a lighter feel that accentuates its openness.
Sound Control
Late in the game, according to Cross, they recognized that the advantage of the wide open space of a metal building interior also meant that sound transmission would be a problem. The echoing interior required attention. “We worked with an acoustical engineer to develop cost-effective and durable solutions,” he explains. “We placed acoustic baffles up high and oriented them to anticipate a stage location. On the opposite wall, we placed acoustical panels that are very hard and dense. It’s surprising how quiet and pleasant it is.”
The overall result of the direct interpretation of a metal building is a bright and airy community center that meets the needs of an incredibly varied user group, and did so by matching the aesthetic and financial needs of a the community. For that, the judges selected it as the Metal Architecture Design Award winner in the Metal Building category.
Photos: David Wakely
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Lafayette Community Center, Lafayette, Calif.
Completed: October 2015
Total square footage: 4,980 square feet
Building owner: City of Lafayette
Architect: PROTOinc, San Francisco, www.proto-inc.com
General contractor: JUV Inc., Oakland, Calif., www.juvinc.com
Metal building assembler: Quality Erectors & Construction, Benicia, Calif., www.qec-inc.com
Metal building contractor: Diede Construction, Lodi, Calif., www.diedeconstruction.com
Metal building manufacturer: CBC Steel Buildings, Lathrop, Calif., www.cbcsteelbuildings.com
Insulated metal wall/roof panels: All Weather Insulated Panels, Vacaville, Calif., www.awipanels.com
Metal wall panels: AEP Span, Fontana, Calif., www.aepspan.com