Honoring Bob Evans

by Jonathan McGaha | July 31, 2016 12:00 am

A design team works to honor a company’s historic foundations

The design team began with the goal of connecting the architecture of the new Bob Evans Farms[1] corporate headquarters in New Albany, Ohio, to the power of the Bob Evans brand, while achieving one of the most rigorous milestones for sustainable design: LEED Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. Another purpose of the project was to create an interactive and educational experience that celebrates farming, family, philanthropy, nutrition and the environment.

Towering windows, rooftop solar panels and world-class energy efficiency are all part of a modern, innovative barn-like structure that venerates Bob Evans Farms’ rural heritage. Located on a 40-acre site just outside of Columbus, Ohio, the three-building corporate campus houses offices, a test kitchen, training facility, warehouse, shipping center and carry-out restaurant.

The glass-and-stone-clad main building features metal barn-style roofing and two silo-like towers on its eastern and western ends. Cost savings and sustainability were behind the selection of Solarban 70XL glass and Duranar Sunstorm coatings by Pittsburgh-based PPG Industries Inc[2]. For the design team at Columbus-based M+A Architects, the choice of simple, traditional building materials salutes Bob Evans Farms’ past while fulfilling the company’s mandate for functional and collaborative work spaces. Highly insulating glass and metal curtainwall and storefront systems fabricated with Solarban 70XL glass and Duranar Sunstorm coatings enable sunlight to flood offices and open meeting areas while controlling solar heat gain. As a result, the 138,000-square-foot building uses less power for lighting and temperature control than comparable buildings of its size.

Energy savings are supplemented by energy-conserving LED interior lighting, power-generating rooftop solar panels, light-amplifying skylights fabricated from Solarban 70XL glass and a customized exterior sunshade system designed by YKK AP Inc.[3], Norcross, Ga., and finished with Duranar Sunstorm coatings. Architect Lori Bongiorno, who led the design team at M+A Architects[4], says the PPG glass and coatings were calculated decisions. “We needed high-performance glass due to the large expanse of windows. Our mechanical engineer recommended Solarban 70XL glass to help achieve our goals for the energy model while still maintaining large amounts of glass to maximize natural light transmission. It also has the appearance of clear glass, which was desired from an aesthetic standpoint.”

Based on PPG’s proprietary triple-silver coating technology, Solarban 70XL glass transmits 64 percent of the available sunlight and blocks nearly 75 percent of the sun’s heat energy in a standard 1-inch insulating glass unit (IGU). The resulting 2.37 light-to-solar-gain (LSG) ratio makes it one of the highest performing architectural products available.

Cost savings were behind the selection of Duranar Sunstorm coatings as well. “Anderson Aluminum recommended this product for the curtainwall and storefront so we could use a two-coat system instead of a three-coat system to save money and provide the durability required for a 50-year life span,” Biogiorno explains.

Duranar Sunstorm coatings are made using Kynar 500 70-percent polyvinylidene (PVDF) resin and a proprietary blend of PPG resins, pigments and solvents. Together, they beautify and protect buildings with a brilliant metallic mica finish, and decades of resistance to chalking, fading, chipping, peeling and environmental stresses such as acid rain and ultraviolet attack.

Now home to more than 500 employees, the Bob Evans Farms headquarters complex has met the goals of attaining the LEED certification while honoring the company’s historic foundations.

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Glenn Miner is the director of construction, flat glass at Pittsburgh-based PPG Industries Inc. Miner is a 36-year veteran of PPG and has spent his entire career in the glass businesses. In his current capacity, he provides strategic development and direction to PPG’s commercial construction segment and oversees new product development, business and brand positioning, marketing communications and customer support programs for PPG’s architectural glass business. Miner also manages PPG’s North American architectural team. For more information, contact gminer@ppg.com[5]. To lean more about PPG’s full range of sustainable glass, coatings and paint products, visit www.ppgideascapes.com[6].

Source URL: https://www.metalarchitecture.com/articles/honoring-bob-evans/

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