A woven stainless steel mesh system from Cambridge Architectural, Cambridge, Md., employs panels of bright, gleaming metal fabric to add high style and utility to the new Rental Car Center at the Miami Intermodal Center.
The four-level parking facility is the first major structure to be completed as part of the Miami Intermodal Center, a new ground transportation hub in development by the Florida Department of Transportation. It houses storage and maintenance operations, vehicles and customer service areas for all of the current rental car companies operating inside Miami International Airport, plus others located nearby. Because of the structure’s dual purposes of style and service, the project team needed to employ materials that could provide both.
A Cambridge Parkade woven metal fabric system clads the exterior stair towers on all four sides of the Rental Car Center, contributing clean lines to the building and screening each of its corners in streamlined steel. The result is a fashionable, yet utilitarian design that catches the eye and acts as a pleasant gateway for travelers.
The project team for the Rental Car Center chose architectural mesh not only for their design needs, but for their performance expectations as well—specifically, extreme environmental factors. Since the Miami region often experiences hurricane-force winds, the exterior of the facility needed to be able to withstand gusts of up to 150 miles per hour. Cambridge custom engineered a system using its patented, Miami-Dade certified Velocity attachment, a spring mechanism that allows flexible mesh panels to absorb high wind loads and then re-tension them after the conditions have passed.
The project team consisted of architect Heery International Inc., Atlanta, and contractor/installer Turner Construction Co., Miami.
Cambridge Architectural, www.cambridgearchitectural.com
