Highlands Plaza Three is a four-story, state-of-the-art medical office building located in a 26-acre (10-hectare) mixed-use campus in St. Louis. The building, referred to as HP3, features metallic panels from Columbus, Ohio-based Kingspan Insulated Panels Inc., and accounts for 86,000 square feet (7,989 m2) of the campus developed by St. Louis based Balke Brown Associates.
HP3 was at 100 percent occupancy two months before construction was completed in May 2008. The $10.8 million facility contains the medical offices for Mid-America Transplant Services and Barnes Jewish Hospital. Once completed, the Highlands development will include 1 million square feet (92,900 m2) of office space, loft-style apartments, a six-story hotel and new restaurant facility.
The architect, Gray Design Group Inc., St. Louis, specified brick, Morin single element panels and Kingspan Benchmark insulated panels for the project,each providing approximately one-third of the building envelope. Morin supplied 12,000 square feet (1,115 m2) of its 22-gauge Integrity Series X-12 and XC-12 panels, while Benchmark customized 8,000 square feet (743 m2) of its 2-inch-
(51-mm-)thick insulated foam panels.
“A successful installation hinged on the substrate that the panels were attached to, so tolerances in steel and back-up framing werereduced to nearly zero,” said Toby Heddinghaus, LEED AP, principal at Gray Design. Selecting Morin and Kingspan Benchmark panels facilitated the installation process, as well as the aesthetically pleasing end result.
The single element and insulated panels allow for design flexibility, and the panels were selected to achieve the desired color and texture. Coated in Champaign Pearl and Bronze, the panels create a distinctive yet complementary aesthetic for the campus building.
“Because we used a metallic finish, we particularly like the way the structure responds to the daylight conditions around it,” Heddinghaus said.”Simply put, the building looks great.” S.M. Wilson & Co., St. Louis, was the general contractor, and Lackey Sheet Metal, St. Louis, was the metal panel installer.
Kingspan Insulated Panels Inc.
