Leon Levine Hall of Medical Sciences at Campbell University, Lillington, N.C., stands between traditional and modern designs with a zinc roof that flows down the walls. Will Harrison, project manager at Durham, N.C.-based architectural firm Little, says in addition to aesthetics and longevity, zinc coincided with the use of the medical sciences building.
“We were looking for all-natural materials on the exterior, and being health science, we liked the idea of it being a non-polluting surface,” Harrison says.
Baker Roofing, Raleigh, N.C., installed approximately 50,000 square feet of Raleigh-based Umicore Building Products USA Inc.’s 1-mm VMZ Standing seam panels in QUARTZ-ZINC and 7,500 square feet of 1-mm VMZ Interlocking panels in QUARTZ-ZINC.
A vertical zinc panel at the building’s entrance on the west side was used to shade the front desk from direct sunlight. Behind the zinc panel is glass, creating a layered façade. “That panel is proud of the curtainwall about 5 feet,” Harrison says. “So the panel blocks the direct sun, but sunlight can creep around the edges; it’s almost like a visor.”
After they established the vertical panel at the entrance that led to using more zinc. “Then you start to wrap in other places,” Harrison says. The zinc panels continue up the wall, over the roof and back down the opposite wall. The wrapped-panel design was repeated on the second half of the building. “Then it becomes sort of a language for the metal,” he adds.
Leon Levine Hall of Medical Sciences is the first building of Campbell University’s Jerry M. Wallace School of Osteopathic Medicine. “We wanted a sense of permanence in this first building,” Harrison says. “Being the flagship, it was going to set the pace for the rest of the buildings on this campus.”
T.A. Loving Co., Goldsboro, N.C., the construction manager at risk for the project, got involved during the design phase and helped analyze metal skin costs. “We started engineering early on to see how we could get zinc,” Harrison says. “Copper, of course, was less expensive, but we liked the look of zinc, and we liked the idea that it was non-polluting.”
Two ways they planned to reduce cost was by installing aluminum roof wells and aluminum window infill panels, Harrison says. However, in the end there was enough zinc left over to complete the roof wells, he says, and it was only necessary to use aluminum for the window infill panels. Brinn Glass and Mirror Inc., New Bern, N.C., installed 1,300 square feet of insulated composite aluminum window infill panels from Mapes Panels LLC, Lincoln, Neb.
Leon Levine Hall of Medical Sciences at Campbell University, Lillington, N.C.
Completed: April 2013
Total square footage: 96,500 square feet
Owner: Campbell University, Buies Creek, N.C.
Architect: Little, Durham, N.C., www.littleonline.com
Construction manager at risk: T.A. Loving Co., Goldsboro, N.C., www.taloving.com
Installers: Baker Roofing, Raleigh, N.C., www.bakerroofing.com, and Brinn Glass and Mirror Inc., New
Bern, N.C., www.brinnglass.com
Aluminum infill panels: Mapes Panels LLC, Lincoln, Neb., www.mapes.com
Metal wall and roof panels: Umicore Building Products USA Inc., Raleigh, www.vmzinc-us.com