Riverside City Development

by Jonathan McGaha | April 2, 2017 12:00 am

Multifamily housing development nods to past, embraces future

 

Newly developed multifamily housing units are steadily sweeping the nation. According to Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, the nation’s largest lenders in the housing market, 2016 saw greater activity compared to 2015, when the two agencies lent nearly $100 million for construction of apartments and condominiums.

Multifamily housing projects showcase noteworthy variety, occupying both the affordable and luxurious ends of the spectrum and appearing in both suburban and urban neighborhoods. Due to the architectural diversity of this market, these projects demand products that deliver versatility and variety. This need explains aluminum composite material’s evolving presence in the multifamily housing market. With its vast selection of colors and finishes, aluminum composite materials qualify as a suitable and practical choice for this market’s building projects.

Among the planners, architects and builders who seek to differentiate their projects from the standard building envelope, ALPOLIC Materials[1] by Mitsubishi Plastics Composites America Inc., Chesapeake, Va., is a popular choice in both interior and exterior metal cladding because of its lightweight, adaptable, and sustainable design and plethora of colors, patterns and finishes.

Architects working on a major revitalization project for the city of Harrison, N.J., turned to ALPOLIC Materials to help them pay homage to the region’s industrial past. Using a combination of ALPOLIC’s aluminum composite metal exterior cladding complementing the traditional brick façades that were prevalent during the area’s manufacturing heyday, Lambertville, N.J.-based Minno & Wasko Architects and Planners[2] achieved a design that both nods to the past while readily embracing the future.

Harrison Commons, the completed first phase of the multiphase plan, includes 275 residential units and 15,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space. Nearly 30,000 square feet of ALPOLIC 4-mm PE materials were painted Champagne Metallic (CMX) and coated with an FEVE top coat. The panels were fabricated by Fairfield, N.J.-based Fairfield Metal LLC[3] and installed using the company’s proprietary CFM system. The soft metallic color provides great contrast to the rich tones of the other materials, and with a 30-year warranty, the property owners are sure to have peace of mind. This project’s use of aluminum metallic finishes with multicolored brick shows how aluminum composite materials can be tailored to specific building goals. In this case, ALPOLIC’s metallic exterior cladding served as the perfect accent to an architectural design that aimed to preserve an industrial past, yet features current architectural trends.

“The quality of ALPOLIC’s finish is great and it’s consistent,” says Wojciech Siewior of Fairfield Metal. “We like ALPOLIC because getting the materials is a nonissue. The whole lot for this project was delivered just as promised. This allows us to keep the project on schedule.”

Among the array of multifamily housing unit projects across the nation, Harrison Commons is of special significance because of its ties to both history and progress; managing to sustain the industrial marking of Harrison’s past while playing a part in the evolving multifamily housing unit market. The building’s combination of conventional brick combined with its chic architectural design make this evident.

The development of Harrison Commons provides an indication of the direction of where this riverside city that once laid vacant is headed: a place of rebirth, revitalization and progress.

Harrison Commons, Harrison, N.J.
Architect: Minno
& Wasko Architects and Planners, Lambertville, N.J., www.minnowasko.com[4]
Fabricator: Fairfield Metal LLC, Fairfield, N.J., fairfieldmetal.com[5]
Metal wall panels: ALPOLIC Materials by Mitsubishi Plastics Composites America Inc., Chesapeake, Va., www.alpolic-americas.com[6]
Product: ALPOLIC PE in CMX Champagne Metallic
Coating: Champagne Metallic (CMX)
Industry: Multifamily Housing

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Renee Nolan Mullins is the marketing manager for ALPOLIC Materials, a leading manufacturer of aluminum composite materials. Prior to joining ALPOLIC, she handled public relations, media relations, corporate communication, strategic marketing and creative management for a variety companies throughout the United States over the last 18 years. To learn more, visit www.alpolic-americas.com[7].

Source URL: https://www.metalarchitecture.com/articles/riverside-city-development/

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