Kansas City Power & Light (KCP&L) launched the latest addition to their Kansas City, MO-based offices - the Safety And Training Center - in late 2015. Featuring a variety of metal products from CENTRIA, the two-story, 53,000 sq. ft. facility provides a world-class education center for KCP&L’s linemen and apprentices.
The $22 million, state-of-the-art education center is the winner of a 2016 Capstone Award for Green Design.
One of the biggest challenges for this project, the builders noted, was the aggressive construction schedule. The company worked through the harsh winter weather to hit their completion deadline.
Project Manager Amy Gilbertson, Bell/Knott & Associates, said she was attracted to the clean aesthetic of modular metal panel systems, as well as the wide variety of product options for dynamic custom designs. Though the original specification named a product offering from a competitor, she said that CENTRIA’s Intercept proved to be the more economical solution.
“Intercept offered us the same look and feel, but it was a more competitive bid,” Gilbertson noted. “That’s always going to be an important factor.”
The project also features CENTRIA’s Cascade single-skin metal panels. Gilbertson said she was looking forward to the chance to showcase Cascade, noting its distinctive curved aesthetic and comprehensive functionality. The product was used as an accent wall in areas with industrial applications, filling “a necessary visual role” for the Safety and Training Center.
“We wanted to achieve that corrugated look with a panel that we knew was going to perform well,” she said.
The total wall system is backed by CENTRIA’s advanced thermal and moisture protection (ATMP®) technology in the form of 3” MetalWrap insulated composite backup panels. MetalWrap integrates seamlessly with CENTRIA’s Intercept system, Cascade single-skin panels, and even Formavue windows and louvers. All told, CENTRIA provided nearly 80,000 sq. ft. of high-performance building products for the exterior envelope.
As the inner layer of the rainscreen system, MetalWrap Series panels provide a second line of defense against the harsh weather conditions of America’s Midwest. While MetalWrap’s 3-inch panels boast a considerable R-value of 21, building designers were more impressed with the product’s unique, single-component construction, eliminating the need for separate batt or board installation, exterior gypsum, air barriers, vapor retarders and building wraps. As construction continued through the cold winter months, MetalWrap Series lived up to its reputation of easy installation in any weather.
The integration of Formavue windows and C/S louvers “provided all the design aspects to meet the architect’s goals to construct the building so it is air and water tight and provide one of the highest performing exterior envelopes in the country,” said Gary Mays, President/Owner of Mays Maune McWard, the project’s dealer.
Energy-efficient Versapanel insulated metal panels were also incorporated in the final design. This economical product is available in a range of thicknesses with R-values to meet extreme weather conditions.
The architect for this project was Bell/Knott & Associates of Kansas City, MO. The contractor was McCownGordon Construction LLC of Kansas City, MO. The CENTRIA products dealer was Mays Maune McWard Inc. of Kansas City, MO. The CENTRIA products installer was Cornell Roofing & Sheet Metal Co. of Kansas City, MO.
CENTRIA products used on this project included:
• Intercept™ Entyre Modular Panel System - Square Footage: 27,015; Color: Limestone; Finish: Smooth; Coating: Fluorofinish.
• MetalWrap™ Series 3” - Square Footage: 33,000.
• Versapanel® Vertical - Square Footage: 35,054; Color: Surrey Beige; Finish: Embossed; Coating: Versacor Elite.
• Cascade® CC-260 Vertical - Square Footage: 6,688; Color: Surrey Beige; Finish: Smooth; Coating: Fluorofinish.
• Formavue® FV-600 Integrated Windows.
• C/S MetalWrap Louvers.
• Flatstock.