Featured Projects

Home to The Dow Chemical Company headquarters, it is fitting that the city of Midland, Mich., is the site of the historic first exterior use of THERMAX™ (ci) Exterior Insulation. And the timing couldn’t be better, with the new ASHRAE prescriptive requirements for continuous insulation in most U.S. climate zones. The 131-room H Hotel has earned a reputation as the Midland area’s most complete meeting and conference facility. Major renovation plans coincided with new management and a Dow leadership decision to locate its H.H. Dow Leadership Academy within the hotel, conveniently situated in the heart of downtown Midland and near the corporate headquarters.

In the 1940s, inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright’s post-war “organic architecture”, Alfred Browning Parker was at the forefront of Miami’s “modern is regional” design movement. Wright’s influence can be found in many of Parker’s designs, including the Temple Beth El in West Palm Beach, FL. Constructed in 1970, it blends Wright-inspired features with a several-stories-high, nautilus shell-shaped structure that forms the ceiling of the temple’s sanctuary. When the iconic roof form was damaged by hurricanes in 2004 and 2005, it was recovered with jobsite rollformed metal roofing from Englert Inc. of Perth Amboy, NJ.

Since its founding in 1984, Camdon Construction of Red Deer, Alberta, Canada has been an authorized builder of metal buildings by Robertson Building Systems. So naturally, when the company decided to build a new headquarters it turned to products and systems from Robertson. The new 6,681 sq. ft. office building was constructed with a 51’ x 131’ x 23’ Robertson metal building framing system and is clad with the company’s 26-gauge aluminum-zinc standing seam metal roofing and A-36 metal wall panels in a Sandstone color.

In Bluffton, SC, 8,000 sq. ft. of COOLR® roofing metal was the material of choice for a Coach Homes and Condominiums project in the Hampton Lakes development. COOLR is a product of Sheffield Metals, Sheffield, OH. The 24-gauge, 20”-wide roofing metal—featuring a Medium Bronze paint finish—was formed into 17”-wide panels with a 1”-high standing seam by 4M Metals of Hilton Head, SC. RoofCrafters of Savannah, GA, handled the installation. Estate Builders was the general contractor.

Cladding specialists James & Taylor have put the finishing touches to the new Hereford Learning Centre in Hereford, Herefordshire, England, with a stunning perforated aluminum (aluminium) façade that reflects the local community. The façade for the new building, the first phase of a learning village at the heart of the town’s College of Technology, depicts local scenes created by punching thousands of holes into bronze anodized bespoke aluminum panels. Architects Stubbs Rich designed the images, and they were computer generated by James & Taylor, who reproduced the design over the 229 perforated panels that make up the façade.

The first of a new generation of Child Development Centers (CDCs) has entered service at Fort Riley, KS where more than $1-billion dollars worth of construction is planned or underway in step with the U.S. Army’s 1st Infantry Division returning from a ten-year station in Germany. The daycare/preschool facilities, based on a standard design, are representative of a broader initiative of design standards developed for various Army facilities. The identical 16,000-sq.-ft. childcare centers at Fort Riley were produced by a $11.25-million Multiple Award Task Order Contract (MATOC). Metal building systems supplied to the Fort Riley projects by Butler Manufacturing Company.

When Suburban Bank and Trust (SBT), headquartered in Elmhurst, IL, bought a small building for a new branch location the primary challenge was to give it an identity more fitting with the SBT style. The structure was built in the 1970s and needed more than just a new face so the bank called on PPKS Architects, Glen Ellyn, IL for help. The design from PPKS features 1,400 square feet of Kalzip TF37/800R façade system made of 0.040 aluminum with a twin-triangular profile that creates an interesting exterior through an interplay of light and shade across its shape.

Taking a different approach is not new to Mosher, Dolan, Cataldo & Kelly Commercial, a leading Michigan contractor/developer based in Birmingham, near Detroit. Over the last two decades, the firm has made its mark in Southeast Michigan with innovative construction recognized for the finest materials, craftsmanship and attention to detail. When the firm’s partners were ready to try a different approach to steel stud construction on a new multi-use building in Birmingham’s Triangle District, Dow offered a simple solution: the THERMAX™ Total Wall System.

One of the requirements for this Hippocrates Health Institute facility was that the roofing product needed to meet Miami-Dade and Florida state approvals. The 22-sided “circular” structure, located in West Palm Beach, FL, has a conical roof configuration. DECRA Roofing Systems’ Villa Tile stone-coated steel roofing met those requirements, as the panel style of the product performs well in the high wind zone—while also offering outstanding aesthetics and long-life, low-maintenance advantages. Nearly 5,300 sq. ft. of the Venetian Gold colored roofing were used.

M.G. McGrath showed its talents as both a fabricator and installer of metal construction products by virtue of its involvement in the building of the Rockpoint Church in Lake Elmo, MN. In addition to fabricating and installing the project’s aluminum composite wall panels, the Maplewood, MN, firm installed the project’s profiled metal wall panels, metal roof system, soffit panels and screen wall. The church was designed by BWBR Architects of St. Paul, MN, with the Eden Prairie, MN office of JE Dunn Construction handling the general contracting duties. It was completed in December 2007.

Hangar Charlie represents the first step in a multi-phase master plan developed by SPF:a for Maguire Aviation. Maguire is one of five fixed base operators (FBOs) at Van Nuys Airport (VNY), the world’s busiest general aviation airport. The new hangar was constructed with a relatively standard metal building framing system from Butler Manufacturing Co., Kansas City, MO, and was topped with the manufacturer’s standing seam metal roofing. The hangar also features metal wall panels by Metal Sales Manufacturing Corp. of Louisville, KY; and hangar doors by Wilson Doors Inc., Elkhorn, WI.

More than 10,000 sq. ft. of Citadel metal composite material (MCM) panels in two installation systems were used on The Metropolitan Shadyside, a new 42-unit luxury condominium project located in the Shadyside area of Pittsburgh. The distinctive six-story building was crafted to meet the specific needs of high-end condominium buyers. Designed by the Pittsburgh engineering/architectural firm Astorino, The Metropolitan Shadyside utilizes Citadel’s Envelope 2000® Rout and Return (RR) System as well as Citadel’s Reveal (RV) System. The panels were finished in Clear Anodized.

Three types of flexible track products from Flex-Ability Concepts were used in the high-tech modernization of Terminal B at Newark (NJ) Liberty International Airport. The modernization strategy called for turning a former ground floor parking area—which was taken out of service as a security measure after the 911 World Trade Center attack—into a 70,000 sq. ft. baggage claim space for domestic arrivals. The improvements in Terminal B are part of an overall $279 million renovation of the entire terminal to accommodate growing passenger volume.

The Ultimate Soccer Arenas Complex's enormous size is not the only feature that sets this 267,000-square-foot arena apart from the rest. It was constructed, from the first beam to finishing exterior touches, in just 88 days. The speedy construction process can be attributed to the use of pre-engineered metal framing. The structure was built by Michigan-based Wolverine Steel Erectors, Inc. with materials supplied by Varco Pruden Buildings, one of the nation's largest providers of metal building system and a division of BlueScope Buildings North America, Inc.

The Urban Plains Center and Tournament Facility in Fargo, ND, is a 15-acre, $44 million construction project that began June 2007. The single-rink facility was completed in the fall of 2008 with the four-rink facility planned for 2009. The facility has five arenas with ice sheets; 37 locker rooms; 40 luxury suites; 300 club seats; main arena capacities of 6,000 for basketball/volleyball and 5,000 for hockey; a tournament facility that will seat approximately 2,000 for basketball or volleyball and 1,600 for hockey – with three other tournament facilities that seat approximately 800 each. Ceco Building Systems supplied custom-engineered framing for the project.

Located on the campus of Augsburg College in the heart of Minneapolis, MN, Oren Gateway Center is a building of many purposes. In addition to providing trendy loft-style housing for more than 100 students, the 118,000 sq. ft. structure is a campus gathering spot where students study, eat, meet and learn. The building was designed by BWBR Architects of St. Paul, MN. For its exterior the firm used a blend of glass and metal in the form of aluminum composite panels, flat seam wall panels and perforated screenwalls, all fabricated and installed by M.G. McGrath Inc. of Maplewood, MN.

Dri-Design’s proprietary copper anodized panels highlight the new 47-story Parkview West condominiums near Lake Michigan in Chicago. More than 33,000 sq. ft. of .063" aluminum Dri-Design panels complement the building's curved glass façade and masonry accents. The Dri-Design Wall Panel System is a patented, pressure-equalized rainscreen system known for its economy. The copper anodized panels chosen for this project are part of Dri-Design’s Specialty Series and provide the metallic quality of copper with an extremely hard and long-lasting finish. The panels will not patina.

Since 1860, CONSOL Energy has met the country’s energy needs by developing vital coal resources. The new corporate headquarters building in Canonsburg, PA is designed to reflect CONSOL’s evolution from a single-fuel mining company into an innovative, world-class producer of both high-BTU coal and gas. More than 36,000 sq. ft. of Citadel Envelope 2000® Rout & Return System metal composite material (MCM) panels were used to help create the desired image.

Woven metal mesh from Cambridge Architectural dresses the lobby and adjacent interior public spaces in Philadelphia's impressive new Comcast Center. The 975-foot tall, glass-encased high-rise – the city’s tallest building – is also the nation’s tallest green office building. Designed to achieve LEED certification from the USGBC, architects and engineers sought out sustainable building elements for every square foot of the structure. To that end, the mesh was a perfect fit and an ideal complement to the lobby's centerpiece, a 2,100 sq. ft. high definition video wall dubbed "The Comcast Experience".

An 18,000 sq. ft. kidney dialysis center and doctors’ office complex in Westminster, CO features an entranceway clad with Omega-Lite® ACM panels from Laminators Inc. The 2,010 sq ft of Bright Silver Omega-Lite panels utilized on the project were supplied by Riddell and Company of Englewood, CO. The panels were fabricated on-site and installed by Sondrup Sheet Metal using color matched reveal moldings.