For more than 40 years, the Colorado State Bank & Trust building has stood sentry at 1600 Broadway, ushering financiers, artists, retailers and tourists alike into Denver’s thriving Central Business District. However, its brown, rocky façade–considered chic and contemporary in 1972–has cut a less-than-impressive profile in recent times. Helping return the building to its former glory and once again make it a Broadway showstopper, the architectural team of Gensler – Denver turned to Reynobond® Aluminum Composite Material (ACM) from Alcoa Architectural Products, Eastman, GA.
“Our main programmatic goal for the project was to renovate the exterior appearance with a lightweight material that wouldn’t affect the structure. Metal was a good choice–it wrapped the existing shape and form of the building well, it has the right aesthetic and provided an economical solution for the retrofit.” said Jeff Hall of Gensler.
Not only did the Reynobond® ACM deliver the desired lightness, formability and price point, but the material also blended perfectly with a partial metal over-clad of Reynobond® panels that had been added to the base of the building in 2003. Alcoa Architectural Products was able to match 120,000 square feet of 4 mm Reynobond ACM with a fire-retardant (FR) core, finished with an Anodic Satin Colorweld®500XL to the existing 11-year old panels, even though the existing color was no longer a stocked finish.
Elward Systems Corporation (ESC) of Lakewood, Colorado, engineered an adjustable, two-piece clip, sub-frame system to secure the Reynobond ACM panels and plumb up the existing columns. The panels were used to encase the existing columns of aggregate concrete as they could not be attached directly to the aggregate stones. At the top, the columns appear to hold up the crown of the building. The cornice required hot air welds and custom fabrication to create the shape.
Gen 3 Architectural Wall Systems of Denver, Colorado installed the Reynobond ACM panels in an ESC rout-and-return rainscreen. The work site itself was small and in a highly trafficked area. To ensure that pedestrians were not endangered by falling concrete loosened by workman installing the sub-frame system, much of the preliminary work to be done at night and on weekends. Nine u-shaped swing stages were used to access the columns of the structure, along with seven standard modular platforms that were used to feed the materials to the stages. The Reynobond ACM panels, which averaged about 3’ x 12’ in size, were installed individually from floor to floor. Crews of twenty-five to thirty people worked in two shifts to complete the project in six months.
The end result? A lighter, brighter Colorado State Bank and Trust and a contemporary landmark for the city’s commercial hub.
Reynobond® and Colorweld® are registered trademarks of Alcoa Inc.
Photographs ©The Apple Group