Paradise Valley Community College‘s (PVCC) Kranitz Student Center in Phoenix was last remodeled in the 1990s, when the school’s enrollment was 7,000 students. Now, there were more than 10,000 students who attended the college, requiring the building to be updated to accommodate the growth in population, as well as technological and efficiency standards.
Phasing the Project
The original project scope was to remodel approximately 2,000 square feet and then add another 12,000 square feet, but the programming exercise led the team to remodel the entire 59,000-square-foot building, as well as add 11,500 square feet to make the spaces flow and function better.
“The addition to the north reoriented the building, thus pushing the renovation of the entire facility to make circulation more clear,” explains architect Katie Stachler, principal at SmithGroupJJR, Phoenix. “Departments were combined in the one-stop shop allowing others to have their own identity in the building. Towards the very end of the project, the college also decided to update the servery area as this would have been the only untouched space.”
Even with the change in project scope, the team was able to meet the desired schedule. Construction on the $7.1 million project began in March 2012, and was completed in August 2013. The project was completed in phases, which were worked out closely with the college, allowed the school to function with very little disruption to its normal routine. Phase 1 consisted of a remodel of the existing bookstore and south half of the second floor. Phase 2 was a remodel of the existing southern half of the first floor and northern half of the second floor. Phase 3 was an addition to the community room and welcome center, and remodel of the northwest quadrant of the building.
A Welcoming Entry
According to Stachler, the renovation and expansion project had five main goals: to create a welcoming entry, add community space, provide space for a one-stop student service concept, improve wayfinding, and update infrastructure. The project reinvigorated the community college’s front door, while creating a new community room, Shade Plaza and added identity and attitude to the facility’s primary student destination. Stachler notes that playful textures, campus branded colors and volume shifts help guide students to and through the updated facility.
Removing a breezeway between the Kranitz Student Center and the adjacent administrative building created a welcoming entry. “This allowed a clear access point to the heart of the campus,” Stachler explains. “Metal panels were used along the new north and west façades to tie the addition to the renovation, creating a seamless expression between old and new. Metal bridged between the stucco of the original construction and the glass and the [concrete masonry unit (CMU)] of the addition.”
The addition of the 4,000-square-foot divisible community room that spills out on a shaded plaza allows both the college and community to hold larger functions. Here, Stachler says the metal panels define the outdoor community space, while providing shade.
Improved wayfinding was accomplished through the varied use of materials and volume shifts. The designers were limited to a color palette matching the PVCC colors to reinforce the campus branding and distinguish the school from others in the
Maricopa County Community College District (MCCCD) system. “Puma Pride is shown in the abstracted use of the stepped logo in the canopy design,” Stachler says. “Carrying the panels along the west facade defines both the new entry to the one-stop shop as well as the existing entry to the building.”
As part of the renovation, the designers incorporated energy efficiencies by updating the HVAC system, interior materials and lighting systems. The shade provided by the panels, along with the air flowing through the perforations, reduces the heat load on the building systems, lowering the demand on the infrastructure.
Versatile Metal Applications
Stachler notes that using metal panels helped the designers achieve four of the five project goals. Chandler, Ariz.-based Total Metals fabricated and installed the custom metal panels, which were chosen for their versatility, durability, ease of maintenance and longevity. Total Metals used panel sizes that used up the entire coil, producing no waste while still providing a panel stiff enough to support its own weight.
The panels were perforated to provide shade and air movement, while custom standoffs and fasteners create a playful pattern that played off the overall building design using shifting planes and volumes. “The slight change of depth provides visual interest in the panels themselves and the shadow patterns,” she says. “There was no other product that could offer the diversity of color, texture and pattern the project demanded.”
The project features three different panel types. On the trellis and façade to tie the façade together and provide the play of shade and shadow, Total Metals supplied approximately 3,110 square feet of 20-gauge, 1-foot, 2-inch by 3-foot, 10-inch perforated panels. For the storage and one-stop volume to tie the large CMU addition and existing stucco volumes to the trellis through materiality and color while providing a watertight solution, Total Metals supplied approximately 2,500 square feet of 20-gauge, 1- by 12-inch-wide flush seam wall panels. On the lid of the trellis to provide shade cover, Total Metals supplied approximately 2,900 square feet of 20-gauge, 24-inch coverage VersaDek custom perforated panels. To play off the color palette already established on campus, all of the panels are Kynar coated to match Pittsburgh-based PPG Industries Inc.‘s Duranar Sunstorm Lexus Bronze color.
Additionally, Stachler explains that the designers worked closely with Total Metals, which is no longer in business, to come up with the custom fastener for the project. On the scrim, the metal panels all stand off from each other about an inch, to allow for shade and shadow. Since the panels overlap in a planar mode and stand off from each other in a perpendicular mode, the fasteners had to be custom designed. “We really had to work with
[Total Metals] as far as how long was the bolt portion and what kind of stand-off would we use to have that effect,” she says.
Jim Wilkenson, formerly of Total Metals, says there was a lot of attention to the details with the panels, including the stainless steel spacers between every panel that are of different heights to give them that stagger. He adds that there are custom-designed nuts that he designed with SmithGroupJJR to cap off the top of that, and a custom tool was fabricated to install it.
Additionally, Wilkenson notes that the perforated sheets were laid out in such a fashion to shear across the middle of every perforated row and then fold it over so that there’s no shadow lines in the holes.
**Photos: Liam Frederick
