When clever design meets expert installation, metal building projects like Holgate Square are the end result. Located in Seattle, WA, the four-building, 26,800 sq. ft. development was completed in June 2010 at a cost of $1.5 million. Johnson Architecture & Planning LLC of Seattle was the architect. It designed each of the structures—which range in size from 3,300 to 15,000 sq. ft.—around metal building framing systems from Varco Pruden Buildings Inc. of Memphis, TN. Charged with putting the buildings up was CHG Building Systems Inc., an authorized VP Builder from Renton, WA.
To describe CHG as a metal building erector would be a mischaracterization because the company wears other hats, including that of skilled architectural sheet metal installer. And on this project it truly had to be. Rather than utilizing a single metal panel profile for the roof and another for the walls, as is commonly done with many metal buildings, the architect instead created a high-end industrial aesthetic by mixing together five different products—three types of wall panels, including both single skin and factory insulated, installed both vertically and horizontally, and two types of roofing. There were also metal soffit panels to install.
Metal buildings offer a whole host of benefits, not the least of which is flexible interior layouts. Puget Properties, the developer, stresses that fact in its marketing of the development. Individual unit sizes start at 1,250 sq. ft. and max out at 15,000—the size of the largest building.
The four buildings are protected overhead by Varco Pruden SLR standing seam roof systems. The individual panels for each building were formed from 24-gauge steel and feature a Cool Metallic Champagne Kynar 500 paint finish. The same energy efficient paint system—which is formulated with special pigments that keep the panels cool on sunny days—protects the 24-gauge Prestige Series® (PS-12) soffit panels and the 24-gauge Box Rib canopy roof panels. The PS-12 and Box Rib panels were manufactured by AEP Span of West Sacramento, CA. Varco Pruden and AEP Span are sister companies in that both are divisions of BlueScope Buildings North America Inc.
Other AEP Span products featured on the exteriors of the buildings are Mini-V-Beam and Nu-Wave® corrugated wall panels. The 24-gauge Mini-V-Beam panels, also in the familiar Cool Metallic Champagne color, were installed vertically. The 24-gauge Nu-Wave panels, in a complimentary Cool ZACtique II Kynar finish, were installed horizontally.
Also installed horizontally at the corners of the two buildings facing the street were 20-gauge, smooth-faced factory insulated metal wall panels. At the time of their specification, the panels were being marketed by their maker, Kingspan Insulated Panels North America, as Centurywall™ panels. That changed in July 2010 when the company folded the brand into Kingspan Benchmark’s popular Designwall™ product line. The panels are still available, but now they carry the Designwall name.
The insulation system chosen for the project was Simple Saver from Thermal Design Inc., Stoughton, WI. Unlike traditional metal building insulation, this insulation system features the vapor barrier at the interior face of the roof purlins and wall girts. The space between the vapor barrier and the roof and/or wall panels is filled with blanket insulation, creating a superior insulation system. The building’s roofs have an R-32 thermal resistance rating while in the walls it’s R-19.
Despite the beautiful outcome, the project was not without a few snags along the way. They primarily involved the soil type, an unmarked sewer line and the site’s close proximity to overhead power lines. The issues were not small but in the end, none were schedule or budget breakers.
Joining the team of Puget Properties, owner; Johnson Architecture & Planning, architect; and CHG Building Systems, the metal building contractor and metal cladding design partner; was Anderson Construction Group of Seattle, handling the general contracting duties.