The architects chose aluminum for its inherent image of high tech, contemporary, cleanness and re- fl ectivity, in addition to its low-cost maintenance. The project utilized 15,000 square feet of Alcoa’s 4-mm Reynobond aluminum composite panels in Silver Du- ragloss 5000, to cover the building’s columns. “The brightness of the metallic color and its refl ections play a key role in the building image both during the day and throughout the night,” Escobar-Urrutia says. “On evenings the desert sun hits the columns with a golden glow that makes the sharp and aggressive building, somehow softer and warmer. Then at night that variation of how the building looks during the day is emphasized with a variation of colors that is constantly changing all night long.” To get the aluminum panels to look exactly how
they wanted, Escobar-Urrutia says that they had to train a group of carpenters, along with the general con- tractor, Ciudad Juárez-based Constructora MAYAB, to fold and install the panels, which came in 5- by 17-foot pieces. “We wanted sharp, straight edges, and the only way to do that was with folds, not joints,” he says. Using a 3-D model, the structural support for the
columns was designed on the ground, and then the secondary structure was added to attach the aluminum panels. From then, the one-piece facades were covered and the folds were marked for routing and cutting on-site. Once the aluminum panels were attached to the structure, the columns were lifted into place with a big crane. “This allowed us to reduce the construction times and costs, while reducing the risk of trying to in- stall large pieces of aluminum with folds in several direc- tions from on top of scaffolding structures,” Escobar-Ur- rutia explains. “On top of all this, using the panel sheets almost in one piece left us with very little waste, which we used on the sides of these tessellated elements as a design element, coming to less than 3 percent waste for the whole job on the aluminum elements.” The smooth columns, which measure 40 feet
high and 13 feet wide, give a rhythm to the façade, as they alternate with the windows covered with louvers from Hunter Douglas Contract, Norcross, Ga., which give the building some texture. Hunter Douglas sup- plied its Softwave 25 exterior screens for the north- ern wall of the banquet room area, and its Celoscreen 200 louvers to protect the building’s western façade from the sun. “The building also represents our values as de-
signers—innovation, sustainability and change,” says Escobar-Urrutia. These values are represented on the building’s green roof, which is organic and variable, and the color of the leaves and fl owers on the plant selection that is a living mural, changing according to the seasons. “The garden on top of the lobby and over the maintenance area has a selection of plants and fl owers that will be changing color or texture when seasons pass, acting as a living mural that is different every time you see it.”