Architect Dave Richards admitted he “went nuts over the RHEINZINK® Diamond Tiles” when he first saw them. Richards, president of Dave Richards Architects, Salt Lake City, was in the early stages of designing a new headquarters facility for his client, Chelated Minerals International of Salt Lake City. As luck would have it, the owners of Chelated Minerals happened to travel to Europe while Richards’ design recommendations were still being considered. After seeing numerous RHEINZINK applications in Germany, the owners were convinced. “‘It’s amazing’ they said,” according to Richards. “After that, the design was a done deal.”

Approximately 1,500 sq. ft. of RHEINZINK 0.8mm/22-gauge Diamond Tiles finished in Graphite Gray were used on the 3,000 sq. ft. corporate office portion of the Chelated Minerals building. The company is the leading manufacturer of amino acid chelates for the human dietary supplement market. The facility also includes manufacturing and warehouse space.

“It’s a small project but really offers a high level of design,” Richards said. “The company has good science behind what they do so they wanted a contemporary look with lots of transparency, almost like a clinical lab. I needed a strong texture element to add contrast. The Diamond Tiles are fantastic to work with. The shadow lines look great and there’s enough variation in the color of the zinc that gives it a lot of character. The closer you get to it, the more interesting it looks. I really enjoyed putting it up.”

On-site fabrication and installation was done by Warburton’s, Inc., Pleasant Grove, UT. The general contractor on the project was Lowell Construction, Salt Lake City.