Beautiful Muirfield Village Golf Club on the outskirts of Columbus, Ohio, might be the last place to expect insulated wall panels. Designed by golf legend Jack Nicklaus, the course is home to an annual PGA Tour golf event and in 2013, The Presidents Cup. And with the prestige of these events comes national television coverage.
To accommodate television crews, Muirfield officials wanted a permanent structure with the ability to enclose the space for the television studio on an upper terrace of its clubhouse. The project was to complement the renovation that began in June 2012. Time was critical because the first event of 2013 would be the famed Memorial Tournament from May 30-June 2. In addition, a few months later, the commentators would be back to televise the 2013 Presidents Cup, October 1-6.
Architect Bob Acree of Peacock + Lewis, AIA in North Palm Beach, Fla., called in Ceco Building Systems to handle the unique job. "We chose the Ceco system so the panels could be assembled and removed rather easily before and after the tournaments," Acree explained. "In my previous practice in St. Louis, I had designed several buildings - aircraft hangars and training facilities - by specifying Ceco insulated panels. The interlocking system seemed quite appropriate for the application that we were doing for the temporary television studio at Muirfield. There were several variations from your typical details, which made the flexibility of Ceco panels quite usable and the panel usage very successful."
According to Ceco District Sales Manager Gary Whiteman, the project was not big, but it was unique. "They needed to enclose the studio in an elevated booth. It had to be taken apart, stored and re-installed when needed."
Additional requirements for portability of the studio were the capability of fastening while not being sealed. Whiteman and Acree began hashing out details, and the job shipped in mid-May 2013 with only a couple of weeks to install.
The 30' x 30' project involved wall panels only - 44 to be exact - and were adapted into an existing balcony. Because the client wanted a distinguished look to fit in with the attractive buildings already located at the 18th hole, Ceco 24-gauge 36" wide, 3" thick insulated Sonora panels in Brownstone were used for the exterior. On the inside, Igloo White panels provided framed openings and corners. Brownstone trim was specified for the exterior corners, framed openings and for areas where the customer installed an exterior fireplace chimney.
Construction was completed in time for another successful tournament. Course general manager Nicholas LaRocca was pleased with the result. "Ceco's product is great and was exactly what we were looking for."
Muirfield Village Golf Club was the dream and work of golfing legend Jack Nicklaus in association with Desmond Muirhead. The course is situated on 220 acres and includes an 11-acre driving range. The course was officially dedicated on Memorial Day, May 27, 1974, with an exhibition match between Nicklaus and Tom Weiskopf. Home of the prestigious Memorial Tournament since 1976, Muirfield Village has been consistently ranked in the top 20 courses in the United States and top 50 in the world.
Photos: The top photo shows the balcony with the insulated wall panels in place, while the second photo shows the balcony without the panels. The third photo provides a closer look at the exterior face of the panels.