In the California casino market, staying relevant is vital to a casino’s success. Thunder Valley Casino Resort in Lincoln, CA, underwent a complete exterior renovation to attract more patrons and improve its building performance. This was accomplished with Shadow Series wall panels from Dri-Design.

Architect Jax Kneppers Associates Inc., Walnut Creek, CA, set out to replace an existing EIFS façade with a longer lasting, higher quality, weathertight building envelope system. The firm considered composite metal wall panels, but they could not recreate existing architectural detailing. Dri-Design’s Shadow Series does this and more.

“We created Shadow Series to provide a cladding option with depth and dimension,” says Brad Zeeff, president of Dri-Design. “Architects were turning to other materials to create intricate wall details—until Shadow Series. Each panel can be extended at varying depths, and this creates texture, patterns and detailing that makes buildings unique. All of this is done while keeping the substrate and weather barrier in the same plane.”

Dri-Design also was selected for its unique interlocking system, which channels water and provides flexibility to accommodate subtle movements of a high-rise building. The efficiency of installation, which Dri-Design provides, resulted in minimal interruptions to building operations. 

“The bottom-up installation method allowed construction to occur on a floor-by-floor basis in correlation with interior renovations,” says Jacob J. Welhouse, AIA, NCARB, LEED AP, with Jax Kneppers Associates. “The installation method of attaching panels to girts allowed a seamless weathertight enclosure to be installed efficiently and independently of the finished metal panel system. Hotel management could regain occupancy of the guest rooms at a quicker pace.”

The 230-foot (17-story) building has 408 hotel rooms over a main floor casino. B.T. Mancini Co., Milpitas, CA, installed 78,364 square feet of 0.08-inch aluminum Shadow Series panels in Meadowlark, Clay Beige, Heartwood and Copper Nail colors. “The panels install at a very efficient rate and require no clips or hardware,” says David Jacks, senior project manager for the Structural Products Division at B.T. Mancini. “We have used Dri-Design on past projects, and we like that for installation of the panels, you simply start the bottom run of panels and stack them up and over.”

“Metal panels have updated the building with a fresh new contemporary finish,” Welhouse says. “The existing EIFS system collected dirt, and the color faded unevenly around the building. Conversely, the metal panels are consistent and color-stable for years to come. This significantly reduces the ongoing maintenance requirements for the exterior facade.”

For more information about the Dri-Design® Wall Panel System, call 616-355-2970 or visit www.dri-design.com.