Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

Panel Facade System Enhances Design

  • 12/01/17
Metalwerks

The Earl G. Graves School of Business and Management benefits aesthetically from Metalwërks’ precision metal façade system, which also allowed designers to come in under budget.

Metalwërks, a leader in precision metal plate exterior façade systems, provided 82,000 total square feet of its products for a new construction project at Morgan State University’s new business school in Baltimore, and the pedestrian bridge that connects the east and west sides of the campus.

The new six-story Earl G. Graves School of Business and Management is the jewel of the long-awaited Morgan Business Center. The building is clad with a number of Metalwërks products, including Arcwall DBV Spline panels, custom perforated column covers and skylight panels, and custom Econowall canopy and plate accent features throughout.

Before Metalwërks’ involvement, the original exterior specification was for terra cotta tile, which was coming in over budget. With no additional funding available, Metalwërks collaborated with design architects at Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates (KPF) and Ayers Saint Gross—the local architect of record—to study a variety of wall systems, ultimately providing one that would save on funding considerably and win them the project in August of 2013.

The triangular-shaped structure takes advantage of the site’s significant north to south grade change—evident at a landscape view of the building. Its subtle curvature and wedge shape, along with various curtainwall levels, provided a challenge during the design phase—overcome by Metalwërks’ breadth of accommodating products and an integrated project team approach.

“Even with such a complex design, Metalwërks fabricated the facade flawlessly,” says Tarek Saleh, senior associate at Ayers Saint Gross. “Their design-build process was a great success, and the final product looks incredible.”

On the exterior of the business school building, varying sizes of Arcwall DBV (Drained, Back Vented) Spline panels were specified between vertical window units. The assorted panel sizes were incorporated and installed seamlessly.

www.metalwerksusa.com

This article originally appeared in the issue of .

Featured

  • Countway Library at Harvard Medical School

    From Shadows to Sanctuary: The Transformation of Light at Countway Library

    The renovation of Countway Library at Harvard Medical School demonstrates how biophilic design and advanced lighting strategies transformed a formerly dark, insular space into a vibrant, welcoming hub that supports wellness, learning, and community engagement.

  • Indiana Wesleyan University Schedules Grand Opening for New Welcome Center

    Indiana Wesleyan University recently announced that it will soon open a new Welcome Center on its campus in Marion, Ind., according to a news release. The facility will serve as the home base for prospective students and their families to learn more about the university and student life there. A ribbon-cutting ceremony is scheduled for February 19.

  • Massachusetts K–12 District Selects Architect for New Junior High

    Swansea Public Schools in Swansea, Mass., recently announced that it has selected Finegold Alexander Architects to design a new junior high school for the district, according to a news release. The firm will create the Feasibility Study and Schematic Design for Joseph Case Junior High School after a lengthy selection process by the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA).

  • Photo credit - Chuck Coates

    Florida District Modernizes Central Energy Plants at Two High Schools

    Flagler Schools, a public school district in Flagler County, Fla., recently partnered with Matern Professional Engineering to modernize the central energy plants at two of its high schools, according to a news release. The project is part of a larger, district-wide effort to reduce energy costs and operational expenses.