Owners of Palace Bingo Live in Knoxville, Ala., wanted to renovate the building with an eye-catching exterior. B. Craig Lipscomb Architect LLC designed walls with a multi-colored pattern of vertical metal composite material (MCM) panels. LED lighting strips between panels, two large, drive-through entrance canopies and an entrance tower clad with MCM panels complete the exterior appearance.
MillerClapperton installed 3,530 m2 (38,000 sf) of Mitsubishi Chemical America – ALPOLIC Division’s ALPOLIC metal composite material (MCM) with MillerClapperton’s System 1500 rainscreen attachment system in six colors. In total, 1,100 panels were used.
Six colors of 4-mm thick MCM with a fire resistant (FR) core were used: Black Gold Shimmer, Bronze Metallic, Champagne Mica, Metallic Copper, Rio Aleon, and White Silver. Additionally, the project used 3-mm thick MCM with a polyethylene (PE) core in high polished aluminum (HPA) finish.
On the main building, MillerClapperton installed MCM panels in three heights, which create three bands around the building, from top to bottom, a thick band, thin band, and thick band. Panel colors and widths vary, contributing to the pattern.
On the entrance canopies and entrance tower, MillerClapperton installed MCM panels as fascia and soffits. The majority of the MCM was caulked, and spline details were used, where applicable, to incorporate lighting.
To integrate LED lighting strips after the MCM panels were installed, MillerClapperton installed panels with an atypical joint width, 19 mm (3/4 in.), to accommodate hardware.
One challenge in Palace Bingo Live’s renovation project was attaching the MCM rainscreen system to the building’s existing corrugated single-skin metal wall panel exterior.
Zeke Miller, president at MillerClapperton, says, “Our in-house engineer devised a plan for how MillerClapperton would keep a consistent system depth on a substrate that has peaks and valleys as opposed to a typical installation where we would attach to a relatively flat surface. The company essentially built our own framing system using various zee girt layouts and sizes to work in conjunction with the prefinished single skin substrate, and to ensure the intended layout of the new metal composite material. Installation managed daily challenges in the field and helped solve issues on the fly to keep the project on schedule.”
Architect: B. Craig Lipscomb Architect LLC, Gadsden, Ala., www.bclarch.com
General contractor: J.T. Harrison Construction Co. Inc., Northport, Ala., www.harrison-const.com
Installer: MillerClapperton, Austell, Ga., millerclapperton.com
Metal wall panels: Mitsubishi Chemical America – ALPOLIC Division, Chesapeake, Va., www.alpolic-americas.com
