The Arundel Mills Mall in Hanover, MD, is one of the largest malls on the East Coast and the number one tourist attraction in the state of Maryland, with more than 14 million people visiting annually. In 2010, residents voted to enhance the Arundel Mills Commercial District’s 3 million square feet of retail and entertainment space with a casino. Owners and developers PPE Casino Resorts Maryland, LLC, affiliate of The Cordish Companies of Baltimore, MD, wasted no time and broke ground in January of 2011. The doors to the Maryland Live! Casino—clad in a sleek skin of Alcoa Architectural Products’ Reynobond® Aluminum Composite Material (ACM) and performance-enhancing products from Kawneer—opened just 17 months later.

Klai Juba Architects of Las Vegas, NV, a specialist in gaming and hospitality architecture, was commissioned to design the 1.9 million-square-foot structure, housing a 330,000-square-foot casino and a six-level, state-of-the-art speed-ramp parking structure with the capacity to hold 4,800 cars. Mike Larson, project architect of Klai Juba, told Frank Legato of Casino Design Magazine that the key challenges were to design a stylish and unique energy-efficient building that would integrate well within the context of the 12-acre site adjacent to the mall, and to do so within a highly accelerated time frame.

The structural system is a combination of steel and precast concrete with stone, Kawneer products and Reynobond ACM panels as the predominant skin. The general contractors—Commercial Interiors, Inc., of Terre Haute, IN, and T.N. Ward Company of Atlantic City, NJ—worked very closely with East Coast Metal Systems (ECMS), Inc. of Bellaire, OH, and Emmitsburg Glass Company of Emmitsburg, MD, to coordinate the fabrication and installation of the Reynobond and Kawneer products. ECMS fabricated 81,113 square feet of Reynobond ACM, 4 mm polyethylene (PE) core with a Bright Silver Metallic Colorweld® 500 paint finish, and 3,561 square feet of Reynobond ACM, 4 mm PE core in a custom Carmine Red Colorweld 500 paint finish. The Bright Silver Metallic Reynobond panels were installed on the exterior façade, soffits, column covers and canopy areas, and the custom Carmine Red Reynobond panels were installed on the curved walls at the entrances.

Emmitsburg Glass used an EC-100 Rout-and-Return Wet Seal System to install the majority of the Reynobond material. They had to erect custom scaffolding to gain access to the back of the large curved wall at the porte-cochere entrance to the casino, which proved to be one of the most difficult areas to install.

Using Klai Juba’s architectural plans as a guide, ECMS created the working drawings used by the general contractors and all others working on the project. They then shot the framing with a laser and did the fabrication to the specs in the original drawings. “We were guaranteed sizes from our drawings,” commented Greg Reaver, vice president of Emmitsburg Glass, “but due to multiple as-built conditions, enormous efforts were required in layout and pre-checking the openings. We had a lot of field measurements and verifications, but were able to get most of the panels shop-fabricated.” Emmitsburg Glass started installing the materials in March 2012 and completed the project in August. Multiple crews worked on different areas of the building at all times to meet the accelerated timeline.

To provide the clean look of a glass curtain wall while maintaining the durability, strength and beauty required at the entrance areas, Emmitsburg Glass specified performance-enhancing products from Kawneer. 1600 Wall System®1 and 1600 Wall System®2 with structural silicone glazed vertical mullions presented a sleek appearance for the building. The 1600 systems were fabricated with short-back members just 3-¾" deep that were fastened directly to the concrete substrate. “The curtain wall was primarily for aesthetic purposes,” continued Reaver. “An opaque laminate was used to give the illusion of a curtain wall and to break up the massive façade.”

To withstand the heavy traffic flow, modified versions of Kawneer’s 190 Narrow Stile and 350 Medium Stile Entrances were outfitted with ornate hardware and some with custom grid configurations to provide the desired appearance for many of the restaurant and casino shop entryways. Additionally, two of Kawneer’s flagship framing products—Trifab® VersaGlaze® 450 Framing System and a Trifab® VersaGlaze® 451T Framing System—were used to provide enhanced thermal performance and a range of design options around the entrances to the restaurants in the building. Emmitsburg Glass fabricated the glass systems in their shop and stick-built the framing on site.

Approximately 2,500 people worked on the construction of the project, with more than 90 percent of the subcontractor and labor base from Maryland. The $500+ million casino features more than 4,000 Las Vegas-style slot machines and electronic game tables, 122 live-action tables, two high limit rooms, a 500-seat live entertainment venue and a variety of dining options. In the first six months of operation, the Maryland Live! Casino generated almost 80 percent of all state casino revenue and is expected to generate more than $400 million annually for Maryland public schools.

For more information about Reynobond materials, please contact the Alcoa Architectural Products manufacturing plant at 800 841 7774 or visit www.reynobond.com.

To learn more about Kawneer products, please visit www.kawneer.com.

*Frank Legato, Casino Design magazine, July 31,2012

About Kawneer

With more than 100 years of innovation and experience, Kawneer North America is headquartered in Norcross, GA, and is the leading manufacturer of architectural aluminum products and systems for the commercial construction industry. Kawneer is part of Alcoa’s global Building and Construction Systems (BCS) business unit. Alcoa BCS manufactures and markets architectural systems and products in North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Alcoa is the world’s leading producer and manager of primary aluminum, fabricated aluminum, and alumina facilities, and is active in all major aspects of the industry. For more information on Kawneer or its products, visit www.kawneer.com.