According to Mike Shoulders, CEO of VPS Architecture, Evansville, IN, one of the goals for the firm's design of the new Evansville North High School was to inspire students to learn. One of the products the firm called upon to help it achieve that design objective was aluminum composite material from Citadel Architectural Products.

“We didn’t want the school to look like a prison with a regimented design,” said Shoulders. “Our intent was that the design be inspirational and encourage students to be creative and to think outside the box.”

The 480,000 square foot complex, which also includes a junior high school, was constructed to meet the needs of a rapidly expanding population to the north of the city. Featured on its exterior are approximately 46,000 sq. ft. of Envelope 2000® metal composite material (MCM) panels in Sherwood Green and Desert Sand. They were installed by Weddle Brothers Construction of Evansville using Citadel’s Reveal (RV) System, a field-assembled attachment method utilizing perimeter moldings.

The panels interface with masonry and a limited amount of EIFS. “It’s a large building with numerous wings and a lot of articulation on the exterior,” noted Shoulders. “Although we feel masonry is a good value, we couldn’t imagine the entire building being brick. It needed another good material partner. We liked the complementary colors of the Citadel panels and the brick. It went together marvelously. And with the articulation of the ends and the window walls, the combination of materials really allowed the design to come together nicely.”

Shoulders also had a message for other designers. “We would encourage architects to look into the Citadel product and to use it when they need high quality and performance and a colorful companion to masonry,” Shoulders said.

The Citadel distributor on the project was Spohn Associates, Inc., Indianapolis.