A woven stainless steel mesh system from Cambridge Architectural employs panels of bright, gleaming metal fabric to add high style and utility to the new Rental Car Center at the Miami Intermodal Center in Miami, FL.
The four-level parking facility is the first major structure to be completed as part of the Miami Intermodal Center, an impressive 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. The Rental Car Center boasts modern, vivid architecture and acts as a welcome facility for visitors to South Florida. Because of the structure’s dual purposes of style and service, the project team needed to employ materials that could provide both. Cambridge’s architectural mesh was a natural choice.
A Cambridge Parkade™ woven metal fabric system clads the exterior stair towers on all four side 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 after the conditions have passed.
“The Miami climate poses a variety of architectural challenges,” says Heather Collins, Director of Marketing for Cambridge Architectural. “Our Velocity attachment provided the ideal solution for hurricane-force winds, and our mesh holds up very well in high heat and humidity.”
Cambridge's mesh, depending on its pattern, also provides various levels of transparency, making it a particularly versatile exterior element in situations where a space needs to be closed off, but light and visibility should not. Additionally, stainless steel is virtually indestructible and will maintain its pristine look for decades.
“Cambridge’s mesh provided screening with three-dimensionality, durability even when exposed to harsh weather conditions and transparency that allowed light into the space and added visibility for security purposes,” says Roberto Sequeira, Vice President of Heery International Inc., the architect of the project. “Meanwhile, the material’s aesthetics matched our design intent perfectly.”
Cambridge is committed to assisting the design and construction team from initial concept to final installation on each and every project. For the Rental Car Center project, metal fabric panels were specifically engineered by Cambridge to fit the building's exterior stair towers, ensuring an issue-free installation. In addition, the Velocity attachment system was custom-built to the meet high wind load specifications.
The Parkade system was fabricated with mesh in Cambridge’s Balance pattern, which features flexible open weaves that shade and screen structures including facades, parking garages and pavilions.
Construction on the Rental Car Center was completed in August 2009. The project team consists of architect Heery International, Inc., Atlanta, GA, and contractor/installer Turner Construction Company, Miami, FL.
Cambridge Architectural Parkade metal fabric solutions lend unique aesthetic appeal, functionality, affordability and sustainable benefits to parking structures. As exterior cladding for parking garages, Parkade applications provide ventilation, fall protection, visibility, headlight attenuation, safety, security and many additional functional benefits. Cambridge offers a wide range of metal fabric patterns and corresponding attachment hardware, and is always available for comprehensive design and engineering assistance. With every project, Cambridge provides turn-key installation.