Wave panel: A key component in award-winning facade rejuvenation

Architect Todd Barnett, ALA, along with Sarah Canon, project manager, of Barnett Architecture LLC in Madison, Wis., collaborated with the creative staff of designCraft of Madison to rejuvenate the company’s facility on a busy Madison street. The project received the 2016 Mayor’s Design Award for Office and Facade Renovation.

“It was truly a collaborative process,” Barnett says. “The client is a design firm, they help clients design advertising and develop brand strategy, so they understand the design process and colors. We wanted to find a way to highlight the curved part of the building. They selected some colors and we were very supportive. Metal was the obvious choice because of the aesthetics, its ability to meet the building code and because of the low maintenance. In 25 years, I’ve yet to find a client that was interested in something high maintenance.”

The owners were looking to rejuvenate the appearance of the office, with its tired vinyl siding. The new roof overhang is designed to water plants at the entrance to the building. Specifying materials that would navigate the curvature of the building were a key to the success of the project. Wave Panel helped bring it all together.

The project overcame some initial hurdles when it was determined the facility was originally designated as a commercial/residential building. The facade grants offered by the city of Madison were strictly for commercial renovations. After some facility upgrades and a re-designation, the facility was eligible to apply for a grant, which it received to cover 50 percent of the value of the project.

Wave Panel from McElroy Metal is a concealed fastener wall panel, resulting in a monolithic and aesthetically pleasing appearance, requiring minimum maintenance. The color was Buckskin, a PVDF coating. Approximately 2,800 square feet of Wave panel was installed vertically to accommodate the curved facade. Wood was installed horizontally and the vertical colors are a transition between the wood and metal. Wave Panel also was installed on the third-floor penthouse.

“The general contractor had installed solid plywood with rigid insulation over it on the entire exterior of the building,” says Kent Woller, general manager at Metal Design Corporation of Madison, Wis. “We installed 6-inch wide, 20-gauge galvanized strapping horizontally, 24 inches on-center, fastening through the insulation and into the plywood. The panels were 24-gauge metal, 16 inches wide, with a screw strip incorporated in the panel so we did not need to use clips. The panels were mounted to the strapping.”

Woller says the curving of the building was “soft enough” that when coupled with the vertical orientation of the panels, the Metal Design crew was able to simply follow the contour of the building with minimal extra effort. “The curves of the building really didn’t add significant labor with the exception of a bit more for the fabrication and installation of the trims at the base and top of the curved areas because these areas required shorter segmented pieces,” Woller says.

The image below shows what the building looked like before the transformation.