The Sands Family YMCA is a 75,000 square-foot state-of-the-art multi-use facility that features an athletic facility, medical care facility and early learning center. CJS Architects designed the facility to to take the place of a 100-year-old YMCA in
Canandaigua, New York. The replacement facility’s modern look was achieved with insulated metal panels from Kingspan.
The goal in designing the Sands Family YMCA was to create a large, contemporary facility that could accommodate more people in the Canandaigua area as well as surrounding Rochester residents. For its modern appearance, CJS Architects opted for insulated
metal panels (IMPs). Over 8,500 square-feet of Kingspan KS Mini Micro-Rib IMPs in the colors Bone White, Driftwood and Sandstone were used as the building envelope.
“This facility is positioned right on top of a hill, so its background is pretty much the whole skyline. The colors in the IMPs helped blend the facility in with the skyline, giving it that linear look,” said Jonathan Genrich, senior
project architect at CJS Architects. “The horizontal installation of IMPs helped spread the building out over the site while not increasing its verticality. The detailing in KS Mini Micro-Rib panels was also very simple, allowing us to marry
different materials with IMPs while maintaining clean, sharp lines at those connection points.”
Kingspan’s KS Series panels provide unique aesthetics through a wide range of profiles – like the Mini Micro-Rib – and provide a clean, finished appearance to any project.
“We randomized the color palette of the IMPs and opted for a horizontal installation to make the overall look a bit more modern,” said Jonathan Claeys, senior project architect at CJS Architects. “This detailing also helped make the
overall composition of the building more linear, which is something we were interested in, since the facility sits in a rural setting. The metal from the IMPs is a bit more contemporary than traditional materials we usually see on YMCA facilities,
like brick.”
Ease of installation was also an added bonus of IMPs, as they only require one type of installer, rather than multiple trades. Building projects across sectors have tight timelines, and the speed of build advantage of IMPs is another reason why they are
selected as a building envelope solution for a wide range of projects.
“The use of IMPs played a large role regarding the rapidness of installation,” continued Genrich. “Believe it or not, the contractor was able to do most of the installation in the harsh winter months, keeping the construction timeline
for the facility on track.”
In addition to design and installation flexibility, IMPs offer excellent thermal capabilities, especially for a facility of this size located in the Northeast.
Kingspan’s IMPs provide strong thermal barriers to maintain safe and comfortable environments by creating airtight and watertight continuous insulation seals. This also helps to reduce this facility’s energy consumption. IMPs can help reduce
heating and cooling costs and help to regulate indoor temperatures for athletes.
“Kingspan’s IMPs encapsulated a bunch of savings on efficiency and provided the facility with continuous insulation on the exterior walls,” added Genrich.