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| Finish for Aspen Art Museum’s white exterior  At nearly 8,000 feet above sea level, Aspen, Colorado, is known for its mountain ski slopes that rise seemingly from the heart of the town's central business district. Echoing these snowy and forested surroundings, design architect and 2014 Pritzker Prize for Architecture winner, Shigeru Ban and his New York practice, Shigeru Ban Architects + Dean Maltz Architect (SBA) designed the new $45 million Aspen Art Museum (AAM), which was completed along with Colorado-based executive architects Cottle Carr Yaw Architects (CCY). Featuring an iconic, composite geometric screen that drapes the museum's bright glass and white metal exterior on two sides, the new AAM facility was completed in August 2014. The new museum houses 17,500 square feet of exhibition space in all, with over 12,500 square feet of dedicated interior gallery space—more than tripling the former museum facility's exhibition capabilities. Linetec finished the aluminum-framed curtainwall, windows, sliding door and skylight systems in its Pure White color. Using Valspar's Fluropon, Linetec matched and blended the 70 percent polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) coating in-house to provide a consistent appearance across multiple products and manufacturers. The large openings' direct light is shaded on two sides of the building by the Prodema screen, which is a synthesis of paper and resin veneered with wood. Natural light is maximized from all elevations to illuminate the museum's grand staircase, corridor, main street entry and four of six gallery spaces. "The museum's lattice screen, bright white finishes and vast amounts of glass create a beautifully intricate play of light and shadow throughout the building. It's a truly beautiful structure and a very environmentally sound project as well," describes Linetec's senior marketing specialist, Tammy Schroeder, LEED Green Associates. To enter the 33,000-square-foot museum, located a block and a half from the main ski gondola, visitors may take an external staircase or, upon entry through the main E. Hyman Avenue street-level entry, a glass "moving room" elevator cab to the rooftop sculpture garden and café space on the third level for panoramic views of the Rocky Mountains. From there, they can then descend to the galleries, exiting again at street level. Architect Shigeru Ban says this progression mimics the act of skiing: "You rise up, you get the views, then you descend." SBA was very specific about their design vision and its color selections, according to Rob Seils, Linetec sales manager. He says, "They wanted the finish to be uniform and consistent from one building material to the next. Coating materials, manufacturing processes and equipment, as well as color measuring standards can vary significantly amongst coating applicators. The best way to control color consistency is to use one coating manufacturer and applicator whenever possible. Our color-matching experts scanned color samples, analyzed them with our exclusive color management software, and created the recipe of tints and bases to precisely match the color sample." Customer samples and color match requests are typically processed and completed in 24 hours for most in-house blendable colors. For SBA and the Aspen Art Museum, these quick-turn timelines were maintained, as was open communication and consultation with Valspar. "Our lab associates can match anything, from a piece of metal to a section of masonry, to a swatch of fabric," Seils notes. "The process to successfully match a color involves chemistry and the appropriate lighting," elaborates Valspar's technical manager for extrusion coatings, Mike Churchill. "When we receive a color to match, we analyze its pigment composition - which defines its chemistry. Utilizing only one light source, a given color could be matched with multiple pigment combinations. However, if you change the light source, each of the matches will look visually different from one another and some differences can be quite dramatic. For exterior coatings, the final review of the matched panels should be done at midday outdoors and not in an office setting with fluorescent lights. If you review the panel under fluorescent lights, it may not appear to be as close a match as desired. To meet the architects' visual and performance requirements, Linetec and Valspar recommended a three-coat Fluropon finish – primer, top coat (color coat) and clear coat. "Typically, with lighter colors clear coats are not used. The resins in the clear coat have a yellowish tint. When applied at the lower dry film thickness typical of a normal clear coat spray application, this will result in the finish having a slightly orange peeled and blotchy appearance," cautions Churchill. "For this application, we were fortunate that the color choice was a yellowish shade of an off-white color. This enabled a thicker film clear coat to be applied. The thicker films level out better for a more even look and provide added protection against UV at the higher Aspen elevation." The museum's elevation and the prevailing local climate were key concerns. "UV radiation is one of the biggest culprits for degrading paint's performance, causing loss of gloss, chalking and color fade. For every 1000 meters above sea level, UV radiation levels increase approximately 12 percent," says Churchill. "Valspar's Fluropon coatings are among the most weather-resistant of all finishes, meeting the most demanding exterior architectural specification, AAMA 2605-13." Further managing UV and solar heat gain, the Museum's 12,000 square foot, custom-built EFCO curtainwall system features Wausau Window and Wall Systems' operable windows and triple insulated glass units (IGUs) from Viracon. "Our 2250i-XLT series window, open for 2-inch overall glass and glazing by Harmon, met the tough thermal requirements of the project," says Jay Albee, Wausau's product and pricing specialist. Glazing contractor Harmon, Inc. installed the curtainwall system and was also responsible for the museum's structural glass floor skylights and SAFTIFIRST fire-rated exterior and interior curtainwall. "The project is like no other; the enclosure systems we installed are technically custom and specific to the design intent. Harmon's 'innovative solutions,' with the assistance of LTS Drafting and Engineering, Stutzki Engineering, Quast Consulting and Testing and Architectural Aluminum Fabrication, Inc. offered the project a means to meet SBA's design criteria in terms of aesthetics and performance," says Harmon's senior project manager, Jason Nimmo. "The installation of these custom systems was quite challenging," Nimmo acknowledges. "At the same time, the finished product is something we will always take pride in. The customization of the EFCO 5500X curtainwall system started with Linetec's fine finishing skills and ended with custom through-mullion sex-bolt connections via 3/8-inch aluminum knife plates. These knife plates connected the curtainwall system to the inboard structure and the outboard steel grid system that supports the woven panel screen wall." write your comments about the article :: © 2014 Construction News :: home page |