The News & Advance, Lynchburg, VA recently concluded a two-year, $26 million expansion project based around the installation of a state-of-the-art, German-made color printing press. The modernization project brings the daily paper to the forefront of newspaper production technology, according to publisher Terry Jamerson.
More than 18,000 sq. ft. of Metl-Span CF Architectural insulated wall panels were used to clad the five-story addition to the newspaper’s existing building. The majority of the 3” panels were installed horizontally with a 1” reveal. The panels were finished in Sandstone.
A five-story structure was required because the press was designed specifically for the tight site and is oriented vertically with paper being fed through printing towers. The press itself sits on a massive table that contains 4.5 million pounds of concrete.
The horizontal Metl-Span panels on the addition are installed above split-faced textured block and complement the masonry on the existing building. The insulated panels also interface with translucent panels that provide natural light to the interior work area. The wall panels provide an aesthetically pleasing transitional look for the addition according to Frank Graninger, project manager for C.E. Thurston & Sons, Inc., Roanoke, VA. C.E. Thurston & Sons, a major commercial and industrial insulation contractor in the Southeast, has considerable experience installing Metl-Span panels, primarily in cold storage applications. “Architectural applications require more emphasis on details concerning the exterior wall appearance, vertical and horizontal reveals, back-up girts and studs and their placement per the architect’s elevations and direction,” Graninger said. “Also, vapor barriers are reversed from where they would be in a cold storage application.”
C.E. Thurston value-engineered several aspects of the project and provided a top-quality finished product. “We used a mitered corner detail with an outside corner with minimal exposure to still give the effect of a continuous horizontal reveal that saved some costs,” reports Graninger.
The tight site required a high level of coordination between the various contractors. “The biggest challenge was coordinating the timing and delivery of panels since there was such limited on-site lay down areas. Metl-Span produced the panels in two phases with panels for specific elevations delivered according to when they would be installed. Metl-Span did a great job of getting panels to us when we needed them,” Graninger said.
Architectural design for the project was provided by Dario Designs, Inc., Marlborough, MA. The general contractor was Whiting-Turner Contracting Company, Baltimore.