A new look can provide a new perspective. It can energize you and make you feel good. It can also help show the world what you are about. The Miami Valley Career Technology Center in Clayton, Ohio, needed to update its image to look like the world-class provider of innovative, high-tech career education that it is.
Serving 27 area high schools and offering more than 50 career technical programs for high school juniors and seniors, in addition to lifelong learning opportunities for adult students in the Adult Education programs, the center needed a dominant focal point that would be easily recognizable as the main entry to the entire campus facility.
“Not only was the existing building rather nondescript,” said Tim Bement, AIA, project architect with App Architecture, Englewood, Ohio, “but it had two identical and separated storefront entrances that were obscured and confusing to first-time visitors.”
“The entrance was constructed with a 30- foot (9-m) overhang that put the two doors way back in the shadows,” Bement continued. “The design concept involved transforming the area under the overhang into usable space and creating a single dominant architectural element to signify the main entrance.”
A dramatic new look was created using approximately 8,500 square feet (790 m2) of 0.063-aluminum panels finished in custom Arabian Blue from Dri-Design, Holland, Mich. The metal panels, which match the school’s colors, replaced aging molded fiberglass fascia soffit that extended the length of the building.
“We wanted to establish a first impression of the organization as progressive and professional,” Bement said. “The serpentine Dri-Design blue panel wall effectively provides the dramatic look everyone wanted. And from a practical standpoint, the panels are durable and virtually maintenance free.”
According to Bement, the school had constructed a new Student Activity Center addition several years before using the Dri-Design panels, and the owner was happy with their appearance and performance. Bement decided the Dri-Design panels would be the perfect unifying element to use with the front entrance and would tie together the activity center addition and front entry.
“A well-conceived and sensible longterm solution to add a signature entry to the building,” said Design Award judge Bruce Lynch. “Contoured, colored metal panels add depth and texture to an otherwise ordinary structure.”
“The long-term goal of the school is to rework the fascias and put metal panels on the face of the other campus buildings so they all tie together uniformly,” Bement said.
Miami Valley Career Technology Center, Clayton, Ohio
Architect: App Architecture, Englewood, Ohio
Metal panel installer: Spohn Associates Inc., Indianapolis
Metal wall panels: Dri-Design, Holland, Mich.
