Located on a highly visible urban infill site in Clarksville, Tenn., the new Workforce Essentials headquarters and career training center is situated at a “gateway entry” intersection to the downtown district. The new 40,000 sq. ft. facility, featuring metal products from Petersen, consolidates services that had been provided at agency offices previously scattered around the city.
After initially considering renovation of an aging building on the site, the organization’s board of directors determined that construction of a totally new, energy-efficient headquarters was a better course of action. Workforce Essentials hired Lyle Cook Martin Architects in Clarksville, Tenn., to design its new facility. Good visibility and an easily identifiable aesthetic were important to site selection and building design criteria.
To meet design objectives, four different PAC-CLAD products from Petersen were selected. The roof uses 20,500 sq. ft. of 16-in., 24 gauge Silver Metallic Tite-Loc Plus panels. The façade features 7,800 sq. ft. of Precision Series wall panels finished in Sierra Tan and installed vertically. Complementing the façade is 4,000 sq. ft. of 12-in. Almond Flush panels installed as soffit. In addition, 4,520 sq. ft. of 24 gauge Medium Bronze flat sheet was used for fascia and trim.
Different departments within the building are visually and strategically defined in separate wings and entrances. The administrative office wing to the south is defined by a vertical brick corner tower and sloping PAC-CLAD roof planes and cladding. The larger career training center portion of the building introduces vertically oriented Precision Series wall panels in a calming color palette of Sierra Tan. Thematic entry canopies, protruding aluminum sun shades and aligned horizontal fenestration tie together the architectural composition. The overriding idea is for the building to serve as a machine with different parts working together for a common purpose.
Brad Martin, principal/designer at Lyle Cook Martin Architects, explained, “Workforce Essentials has a variety of regional offices throughout the area it serves. All are different and very few are free-standing. The organization has never really had a corporate look or identity. Now, with this new building, we can incorporate its design features and architectural aesthetics into future new buildings and renovations, and begin to develop an iconic look.” Workforce Essentials is a private, non-profit organization providing workforce development services for the Tennessee Department of Labor in a nine-county area in the middle of the state.
Workforce Essentials already has a new freestanding building being planned in an adjoining county. “Design is well underway and we’ve captured a lot of the spirit of this new building. And, it will use PAC-CLAD standing seam roof and metal trim,” Martin said. “We use metal all the time—we’ve been using the Petersen products since shortly after our firm was founded in 1983. Petersen has always been a go-to manufacturer for standing seam and metal products.”
Installation of Petersen’s PAC-CLAD metal products was completed by Modern Heating Cooling Roofing in Clarksville, Tenn. “The Tite-Loc Plus panels were long—85 feet—and were roll-formed on-site,” said Bill Kimbrough Jr., estimator and project manager. “Getting them up to the high roof was a challenge. All other profiles were fabricated and delivered by Petersen. Currently, PAC-CLAD is about the only product we use.”
Mike Jones, the Petersen sales rep responsible for the project, said, “The utilization of several different types of panels makes this a particularly interesting project. The installer did a great job and now has several more nice projects in the works that use PAC-CLAD products.”
The Petersen distributor was Commercial Roofing Specialties in Nashville.