Commercial Architecture December 2017 - 60

PROJECT

exteriors

esignCraft needed a facelift for their vinyl-sid-

Metal Covers The Curves
Metal and wood replace worn vinyl siding to
create an award-winning façade renovation for
a Wisconsin advertising firm.

ed Madison, WI, headquarters. To accomplish
the task, the advertising firm's creative staff col-

laborated with architect Todd Barnett, ALA, and project
manager Sarah Canon of Barnett Architecture LLC, also of
Madison. They decided to use a combination of wood and
metal from McElroy Metal, Bossier City, LA, and ended
up with an exterior that was recognized with the Madison
Mayor's Design Award for Office and Façade Renovation.
"It was truly a collaborative process," Barnett stated.
"The client is a design firm; they help clients design advertising and develop brand strategy, so they understand the
design process and colors. We wanted to find a way to highlight the curved part of the building. They selected some
colors and we were very supportive. Metal was the obvious
choice because of the aesthetics, its ability to meet the
building code, and because of the low maintenance. In 25
years, I've yet to find a client that was interested in something high maintenance."
The project overcame some initial hurdles when it was
determined the facility was originally designated as a commercial/residential building. The façade grants offered by
the city of Madison were strictly for commercial renovations. After some facility upgrades and a re-designation, the
building was awarded a grant that covered 50% of the project costs.
COVERING THE CURVES

The design challenge was finding a material that would
navigate the building's curved sections. The solution was
McElroy's Wave Panel, a concealed-fastener wall panel that
provided a monolithic and aesthetically pleasing appearance. Approximately 2,800 sq. ft. of paneling, with a PVDF
coating in a Buckskin color, was installed in a vertical orientation on the curved portions of the façade. Wood was
installed horizontally, and vertical color panels used to provide a transition between the wood and metal. Wave Panel
also was installed on the third-floor penthouse.
"The general contractor had installed solid plywood
with rigid insulation over it on the entire exterior of the
building," said Kent Woller, general manager at installer
Metal Design, Madison,. "We installed six-inch wide,
20-gauge galvanized strapping horizontally, 24 inches
Metal for the curves and wood for the flat areas gave this design firm's headquarters a much-needed facelift.

on-center, fastening through the insulation and into the
plywood. The panels were 24-gauge metal, 16 inches wide,
with a screw strip incorporated in the panel so we did not
need to use clips. The panels were mounted to the strapping."

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Woller said the building curves are "soft enough" that,
when coupled with the vertical orientation of the panels,
the Metal Design crew was able to simply follow the con-

Circle 9 on the Reader Service Card.

Download the Wave wll panel spec sheet.

Obtain information on Wave wall panels.

See additional photos at the Barnett Architecture website.

tour of the building with minimal extra effort. "The curves
of the building really didn't add significant labor with the
exception of a bit more for the fabrication and installation
of the trims at the base and top of the curved areas because
these areas required shorter segmented pieces." CA

COMMERCI A L A RCHI T EC T URE

DECEMBER 2017

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Commercial Architecture December 2017