The new four-story headquarters for Consumer Direct Care Network in Missoula, MT, stands as an impressive structure in the city’s new business park. For the colorful façade, a metal composite material (MCM) panel from Citadel Architectural Products was just what everyone was looking for.

Consumer Direct Care Network provides services and supports that help people and families of all ages and people with disabilities, remain safe, healthy and independent in their own homes. Services are available in 14 states.

“Consumer Direct Headquarters continued to grow throughout the design process and when considering a myriad of alternative envelope products to maintain the aesthetic goals, Citadel MCM panels offered great flexibility, custom color options as well as a one stop shop for panel transition profiles,” says Marie Wilson, AIA, LEED BD+C, of In2itive Architecture of Missoula.

“We made a change very late in the building process, after the windows were already installed. Everyone was on board when we decided it needed a little more punch, so we changed the color scheme midstream.”

Citadel’s Envelope 2000® composite panel consists of two aluminum skins, bonded to a thermoset phenolic resin core. Standard sizes available include 8-, 10- and 12-foot lengths, in widths of 4 or 5 feet, available in dozens of colors. Regal Blue (4,631 square feet), Sky Blue (9,751 square feet) and Silver Grey (4,507 square feet) were ultimately selected as the colors for the Consumer Direct Care Network project.

“We were looking for something that is durable and maintenance-free,” Wilson says. She says the Envelope 2000, attached with the Reveal System over a new insulation product, allowed for a quicker installation.”

Swank Enterprises, with four locations in Montana, installed the Envelope 2000 system on the Consumer Direct Care Network project. Burt Geiger, project superintendent onsite, says everything went according to plan and the only real challenge was working through the winter months.

“Because of the height of the building, there were some spots that were tough to access,” Geiger says. “We used a 110-foot boom for working on the fourth story. We used a sling stage in some areas and scaffolding. As far as the installation goes, it was fine.”

Geiger says he’s been working with wall systems from Citadel Architectural Products more and more.

“It seems to be the look the architects and everyone else is after,” he says, “and Citadel is competitively priced. That’s an important factor to everyone.”