When the administrators of St. Clair Hospital in Pittsburgh planned the expansion of the community hospital’s Emergency Department, they wanted a distinctive look that would stand out from the existing structure and be immediately recognizable within the campus.

The 14,000 sq. ft. addition doubled the size of the Emergency Department and relied heavily upon Citadel metal composite material (MCM) panels to accomplish the design objectives. Approximately 16,500 sq. ft. of Citadel’s Envelope 2000® Rout and Return (RR) system panels were utilized. The panels were finished in Classic Copper and Sky Blue.

The physical plan of the hospital has grown with various additions over 50 years. “All of the previous work has used a language of buff brick and strip windows,” according to Joe Obritz, project manager for IKM Incorporated, Pittsburgh. Obritz also functioned as designer on the project. “Taking cues from the ribbon windows, we extrapolated a design that was somewhat of a ribbon-in-motion idea. We created a series of undulating metal surfaces juxtaposed against and interwoven with the background of existing brick planar facades,” Obritz said. “The Citadel panels are actually curved and flow as the metal ribbons unfurl their energy as they travel around the building. Envelope 2000 is a nice system and helped create great results for our application.”

Fabrication of the Citadel panels was done by East Coast Metal Systems, Bellaire, OH. “We field measured the entire project and did most of the curving of the panels,” according to Tony Lemmon, project manager. “It was a complex job with lots of radiuses and wraps but the rout and return system is relatively easy to install. And it allows the flexibility of doing some fabrication in the field if necessary.”

Installation was done by Burns & Scallo Roofing Company, Pittsburgh. The Citadel sales representative was R.J. Bridges Corporation, Carnegie, PA.