North Star Academy, Duluth, Minn.
by Jonathan McGaha | February 5, 2013 12:00 am
North Star Academy is a new K-8 school in Duluth, Minn., featuring approximately 30,000 square feet of Lewisville, Texas-based Metl-Span’s 3-inch CF24 and CF36 Architectural Flat insulated wall panels in Tahoe Blue, Dove Gray, Regal Gray and Cool Zinc Gray. The 90,000-square-foot multilevel facility serves up to 900 students. The Duluth Edison Charter School is a combination of elementary and junior levels that have designated sections within the building. The school offers all of the latest construction techniques designed for a stimulating educational environment based on friendliness, openness and comfort that will enhance learning.
Design for the project was provided by DLR Group, Minneapolis. The design team, led by associate Mark Vetter, recommended insulated metal panels as the appropriate choice for the major exposed envelope material. “The integration of thermal and moisture protection in a factory-foamed panel that could be directly and quickly applied to a steel frame in almost any weather was an important factor,” Vetter says. “And the fact that the panels were lightweight for ease of handling made the value engineering decisions by the overall team relatively easy.”
The design team also wanted to explore the use of dominant colors and textures found in the natural northern Minnesota environment and nearby Lake Superior. The four-color palette of warm light to medium gray Metl-Span panels, mixed with highlighted areas of blue panels, provides for a large building that seems to set quietly in its surrounding. “The sunlight on the panels creates ever-changing, multi-faceted hues and color values that make for a very interesting and nuanced envelope,” according to Vetter.
The general contractor was Kraus-Anderson Construction Co., Duluth, and Specialty Systems Inc., Burnsville, Minn., was the panel installer.
Metl-Span, www.metlspan.com
Source URL: https://www.metalarchitecture.com/projects/north-star-academy-duluth-minn/