BUILDING AND ROOFING AWARDS BEST METAL WALL | NEW CONSTRUCTION
A Living Mural Aluminum columns defi ne emblematic headquarters
By Patricia Brehm, Associate Editor
Designed to refl ect the four core values of the community foundation, four columns stand as the iconic foundation of the 15,600-square-foot FECHAC Regional Offi ces in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico. Known as the Chihuahua’s Businessmen Foundation or FECHAC in Spanish, the counselors of the foundation specifi cally asked for an emblematic headquarters building that would symbolize the foundation’s willingness to show strength in hard economic times. The pillars repre- sent the values of giving, subsidarity, solidarity and common good. The walls are made more distinctive due to color-changing LED lights that transform the structure. The $2 million building was completed in December 2011 and features 15,000 square feet of 4-mm Reynobond aluminum composite material panels in Silver Duragloss 5000 from Alcoa Architec- tural Products, Eastman, Ga. According to Ruben Escobar-Urrutia, LEED
AP, architect with Grupo ARKHOS, Ciudad Juárez, who designed the project with Ricardo Pacheco, also with Grupo ARKHOS, aluminum was a clear choice. “The shape of the building, especially the area destined for the offi ces, required a smooth fi n- ish, one that cleans itself with rain. Aluminum does that, and its silver metallic color helped us with the concept that the building transforms itself during the day and through the night with the colored lights. If we had chosen another metallic fi nish, like copper, oxide fi nished steel, or a darker or colored fi nish, the colored effect would not work.” Aluminum allows the pillars to stand tall and
give off a strong aesthetic. “It’s like these volumes were made of stone, giant stone blocks with rough edges, as if they were carved out of a granite quay,” notes Escobar-Urrutia. “These volumes look so heavy they could not be moved, as if they have being there for ages. The values of the institution are the same, they could not be replaced, and they don’t change with time or events. As a similitude with the stone heads of Easter Island, guarding or taking care of their community.” The decision to illuminate the building’s walls
was a conscious choice in relation to the sustain- able features found throughout the offi ce building, including the green roof whose variety of plants will change colors during the seasons, acting as a living mural. In response to the green roof, a constantly changing façade was chosen for the building. The northern wall on the Banquet room area of the build-
ing was clad in Norcross, Ga.-based Hunter Doug- lass Softwave 25 panels, and the western façade was covered with Hunter Douglass Celoscreen 200 louvers to protect from the sun. The building also features double-pane low-E windows from Viracon Inc., Owatonna, Minn., variable volume HVAC sys- tems, and high effi ciency fl uorescent lighting on the interior, as well as the exterior of the building. “The building is designed with the principles of the LEED certifi cation, although it is not LEED certifi ed,” explains Escobar-Urrutia. “The roof garden on top of the lobby faces west, protecting the building from direct exposure to the sun.” “Every time you drive in front of the building
it looks different,” says Escobar-Urrutia. “On the aluminum panel elements the sun hits these ele- ments add a different angle and intensity during the day, transforming it constantly. We wanted to continue with the living mural and constant change concept throughout the night with LED color changing lights, that emphasized the tessellated volumes that we designed.” Designing the façade was a challenge, especially
due to the unique geometric shapes of the four pillars explains Escobar-Urrutia. “On this particular project, none of the big aluminum installers on the region wanted or thought the work could be done like that.” We wanted folds on all of the vertices instead of sili- cone joints, and wanted to use the aluminum sheets in one piece so we could have as few joints as pos- sible. Since nobody thought it could be done, we had to prove ourselves it could be done, “With [a] skilled and open minded group of carpenters, and a whole week in the sun for all of us, we asked the building’s structure fabricator to prefabricate all of the structure for the front and back of the tessellated volumes and lay them fl at on the parking lot area.” The crew worked with the aluminum panels
routing and added the needed folds to adjust to the metallic structure. All the folds run from one edge to the other on the façade. The end result was less than 3 percent waste in the process of installing the aluminum elements. Additionally, the building itself is a part of the
overall community and has served as the backdrop for newlyweds, high school and university photos. Most importantly, the building stands as a testa- ment to FECHAC’s mission, as Escobar-Urrutia remarks, “At the end, it’s a building of the commu- nity and for the community.”
24 METAL CONSTRUCTION NEWS December 2012
www.metalconstructionnews.com
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