Panel Facade System Enhances Design

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

  • California School District Completes Elementary School Modernization

    The San Diego Unified School District in San Diego, Calif., recently held a ribbon-cutting for a whole-site modernization of Pacific Beach Elementary School, according to local news. The school first opened with one building in 1930 and added six more between 1938 and 1957.

  • Full Sail University Announces First Student Housing Facility

    Full Sail University in Winter Park, Fla., recently announced that development has begun on its first student housing community, according to a news release. The university is partnering with Nvision Development for construction and long-term management of the facility, which will stand five stories and have the capacity for more than 570 beds.

  • 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.

  • Chartwells Launches Campus Dining Evaluation Framework

    Contract food-service management provider Chartwells Higher Education recently announced the launch of BLUEPRINT, according to a news release. The evaluation framework was designed to provide a data-driven and customizable roadmap towards optimizing campus dining services and, by extension, the student experience.