A beautiful 69,631 square foot retail center houses SofaMart, Oak Express, Bedroom Expressions & Denver Mattress for Furniture Row USA, LLC in Charlotte, NC. The facility is a great example of the aesthetics and function that can be achieved with metal building systems supplied by Star Building Systems.

This project had several design challenges including a series of complex roof hips and valleys, a clerestory and open wall conditions - all which were accommodated through support by Star.

The 61’-5” wide center portion of the structure is the rigid frame section, measuring 415’-0” long with a clear height of 39’-8” under the rafter peak. There are two additional 415’-0” long buildings that are lean-to frames attaching below the eaves to each side of the center portion. Steel canopies highlight each entrance and several frames on the lean-to buildings were designed to carry two cathedral ceiling dormers with clerestories and two custom entries. Each of these four entry areas creates a valley condition on one side of the roof plane of the main structure.

The roof is MBCI’s 24 gauge BattenLok HS in Colonial Red with a total panel square footage of 80,900. R-38 roof insulation by Therm-All and R-30 wall insulation by Owens Corning were utilized. Incorporated for air circulation were five Big Ass Fans located along the center of the main building.

The walls consist of 8” steel stud framing, densglass and an EIFS system. The wall material and the stone veneer wainscot are the only conventional materials on the project.

A Star Building Systems custom steel building was chosen for this project to achieve the design, style and interior look that conventional material could not. Most of the interior steel is exposed and the columns are painted various colors to blend with the surrounding areas. The exposed white insulation facing, white painted rafters and lighting provide a bright aesthetic appeal.

The Star Builder for this project was Furniture Row USA, LLC of Charlotte, NC; the architect was Inter Group Architects of Littleton, CO; the general contractor was Catamount Constructors, Inc. of Denver, CO; and the erector was Five Starr Steel, LLC of New Caney, TX.

For more information on MBCI products, visit www.mbci.com.

For more information on Therm-All insulation, visit www.therm-all.com.

For more information on Owens Corning, visit www.owenscorning.com.

For more information on Big Ass Fans, visit www.bigassfans.com.