The Orlando Veterans Affairs Medical Center (VAMC) is one of a kind. Not only does it serve as many as 115,000 veterans each year, but it is the only veteran’s affairs hospital adjacent to a memorial park. The neighboring Orlando Veterans Memorial Park honors more than 1,100 veterans from six central Florida counties.
The 134-inpatient bed complex is part of a 65-acre health and life sciences park at Lake Nona known as “Medical City”. It’s located among other facilities, including a 120-bed Community Living Center and a 60-bed Domiciliary and Mental Health Residential Rehabilitation Program.
America’s honorable and distinguished veterans have access to top-end amenities and patient care at the VAMC. Not only is the hospital staffed with 2,500 employees, but patients and their families are able to relax in healing gardens, or even a large dining area complete with palm trees and a pizza oven for a unique dining experience.
The building was designed with America’s veterans in mind. Even details as miniscule as flat door handles in patient exam rooms specifically designed to be opened with elbows instead of hands, allow veterans to commute throughout the building with ease.
On average, 1.75 hurricanes make landfall on the East Coast of the United States each year. And of those, 40 percent of those hit Florida. With this in mind, buildings in the Sunshine State need to be built with superior weather resistance. And with over 245,000 square feet of CENTRIA’s Formawall Dimension Series panels, the Orlando VAMC achieves just that, with the ability to withstand up to category three hurricane-force winds.
Orlando-based RLF Architects implemented the panels known for their thermal efficiency, moisture control levels and superior weather resistance to combat even the harshest of storms that make their way inland to Florida. The horizontal Formawall panels live up to their reputation for weather resistance by utilizing pressure equalization along their horizontal joinery and minimizing insulation gaps with their factory foamed-in-place core.
In addition to their durability value, CENTRIA’s Formawall Dimension Series panels also provide the Orlando VAMC with an impressive façade to all patients, staff and families who enter its doors. With a rich palette of subtle, yet sophisticated colors including Bone White, Colonial Gray, Sandstone and more, the building’s metal panels radiate against the hot Florida sun.
The products’ insulated metal vertical (IMV) joint promote the building’s beautiful aesthetic even further by providing a clean and interrupted appearance intended to minimize exterior dirt streaking and staining to keep the light-shaded panels clean all year round.
Formawall Dimension Series panels are environmental product declaration (EPD) certified by UL Environment and contributed to the facilities’ Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Silver certification. EPDs rely on Life Cycle Assessments (LCA) to provide information on a number of environmental impacts of products over their life cycle.
The architect was RLF Architects of Winter Park, FL. The CENTRIA products dealer/installer was Crown Corr Inc. of Gary, IN. Contractor was Brasfield & Gorrie, General Contractors of Winter Park, FL.
CENTRIA products used on this project included:
• Formawall® Dimension Series® 2" Horizontal - Square Feet: 97,015; Color: Light Sea Wolf; Coating: Duragard; Finish: Embossed; Gauge: 22.
• Formawall Dimension Series 3"-T Horizontal - Square Feet: 113,846; Color: Bone White; Coating: Duragard; Finish: Embossed; Gauge: 22.
• Formawall Dimension Series 2” Horizontal - Square Feet: 30,876; Color: Colonial Gray; Coating: Duragard; Finish: Embossed; Gauge: 22.
• Formawall Dimension Series 2” Horizontal - Square Feet: 2,269; Color: Sandstone; Coating: Duragard; Finish: Embossed; Gauge: 22.
• Formawall Dimension Series 2” Horizontal - Square Feet: 1,896; Stainless Steel; Finish: Embossed; Gauge: 22.