{"id":1098,"date":"2014-05-05T14:39:38","date_gmt":"2014-05-05T14:39:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.alucobondusa.com\/blog\/?p=1098"},"modified":"2025-09-10T18:39:58","modified_gmt":"2025-09-10T18:39:58","slug":"architects-paint-medical-office-tower-with-custom-alucobond-plus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alucobondusa.com\/blog\/architects-paint-medical-office-tower-with-custom-alucobond-plus\/","title":{"rendered":"Architects Paint Medical Office Tower With Custom ALUCOBOND PLUS"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Penn<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Project Name:<\/th>\nPenn Medicine Washington Square<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Project Location:<\/th>\nPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
ALUCOBOND\u00ae Materials:<\/th>\nALUCOBOND\u00ae PLUS Custom Colors; Spice Hu, Fireweed, Fired Brick<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Year of Completion:<\/th>\n2013<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Architect:<\/th>\nBallinger, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Fabricator:<\/th>\nWyatt Incorporated, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
General Contractor:<\/th>\nLF Driscoll Co., LLC, Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Images:<\/th>\nPhotos \u00a9 Jeffrey Totaro<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

The new Penn Medicine Washington Square outpatient medical facility opened in September 2013 in the Walnut Towers property at the corner of 8th and Walnut streets in Philadelphia\u2019s Center City with plenty of parking. In fact, this new 12-story medical office tower was built over an existing seven-story garage featuring 600 parking spaces.<\/p>\n

Liberty Property Trust, of Philadelphia, developed the property in joint partnership with Philadelphia-headquartered Parkway Corp., which owned the garage complex and air rights. The Philadelphia-based Ballinger <\/a>architectural and engineering firm was hired by Liberty to design the core and shell of the new 153,242 square-foot office building. Liberty invested $45.8 million to construct the tower. Pennsylvania Medicine managed the interior fit-out as medical offices for more than 100 providers. Penn Medicine Washington Square serves as a major hub of outpatient care for Pennsylvania Hospital \u2013 the nation\u2019s first hospital, which was co-founded by Benjamin Franklin.<\/p>\n

Architects were charged with maintaining the historic integrity of the Washington Square neighborhood in the new tower\u2019s design and originally planned walls of glass and terra cotta-colored metal to blend with the area\u2019s 19th century brick townhouses and 20th century multi-story apartment buildings. While architects worked to incorporate reddish-brick hues in the tower\u2019s cladding, they also wanted to make the hi-rise pop on the city\u2019s architectural landscape.<\/p>\n

They achieved this unique effect in the building\u2019s fa\u00e7ade with 90,000 square feet of ALUCOBOND\u00ae PLUS aluminum composite material by in three custom colors and three distinct surface finishes installed in an alternating color pattern generated via a computer algorithm.<\/p>\n

\"Penn<\/a><\/p>\n

The tower\u2019s ALUCOBOND\u00ae PLUS cladding includes 15,000 square feet in the custom Spice Hue color, 30,000 square feet in the custom Fireweed color and 45,000 square feet in the custom Fired Brick color. Each custom color was produced in three different finishes \u2013 including matte, low gloss and mica \u2013 for a total of nine color\/finish combinations.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlucobond was our metal panel of choice because we had used it on a number of other projects with great success,\u201d said Thomas Lehman, AIA, project manager, Ballinger. \u201cIt was designed to be installed in a rain-screen system that had worked well on previous projects. We wanted to push the envelope with custom colors and finishes so that we could break up the western fa\u00e7ade, in particular, because it has very few windows\u2026We wanted to break down the mass of the building with color and reflectivity. The characteristics of these panels change as environmental conditions change from sunlight to rain.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lehman said the algorithm program was used to generate a non-repeating facade color pattern in which the colors and finishes were evenly distributed across the building.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile we originally thought we\u2019d utilize a terra cotta-colored metal panel to match the area\u2019s historic brick architecture, the architects changed it up a bit to create visual interest,\u201d said Bill Fisher, AIA, LEED AP, senior project manager, Liberty Property Trust. \u201cNot every brick is the same color, so they came up with a tri-color approach for the metal panels.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fisher estimates that the building\u2019s design team reviewed 10 to 12 different color schemes utilizing 3A Composites\u2019 ALUCOBOND\u00ae custom color-matching service before making a final cladding decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the end \u2013 after completing the extensive color selection process \u2013 the building not only looks good by itself, it looks good when you step back and view it in the context of the entire neighborhood,\u201d said Fisher. \u201cThe ALUCOBOND\u00ae provided us with a multi-colored lightweight panel that could maintain the architectural context of the neighborhood.\u201d<\/p>\n

Added Lehman: \u201cWhile this was not the original color of the building, the client was much more excited about the oranges and reds that offer a pop of color in the landscape. This building\u2019s striking color is noticeable from across the city. It\u2019s a stand-out building.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Penn<\/a><\/p>\n

Original air rights in this highly congested urban area designated that an apartment building be erected above the parking garage. In order to accommodate Pennsylvania Medicine medical offices, according to Fisher, the footprint of the existing structure needed a larger floor plate, which required that the building be extended out over the garage and that the ALUCOBOND\u00ae panels be installed in a rain-screen system.<\/p>\n

The ALUCOBOND\u00ae cladding was built into a prefabricated stud-framed system that included super panels measuring up to 10.5 feet wide by 42 feet tall by Pittsburgh-headquartered Wyatt Incorporated<\/a>. The prefabricated panels were manufactured in Wyatt\u2019s Monessen, Pa., facility, transported to Philadelphia, and installed with Wyatt\u2019s proprietary hook and pin rain-screen system during an eight-month timeframe.<\/p>\n

Wyatt worked with general contractor LF Driscoll Co., LLC, of Bala Cynwyd, Penn., to quickly enclose the building by coordinating installation of the prefabricated ALUCOBOND\u00ae panels as concrete was poured and set on each building floor. The super panels \u2013 which weighed approximately 8,000 pounds each \u2013 were raised to the building floors with the crane used to erect its steel beams. The panels were attached from inside the building by Wyatt employees.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese panels were fabricated and installed without a hitch; our tight construction timeframe was met,\u201d said Fred Episcopo, president, Wyatt Incorporated. \u201cWe were very happy with the custom ALUCOBOND\u00ae colors. We appreciate that the color coil-coating process is completed by 3A Composites in its (Benton) Kentucky facility where it can be better controlled. We like the fact that ALUCOBOND\u00ae is made in the United States and that it can be made available for pickup, if we need it.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a completely recyclable construction material, the ALUCOBOND\u00ae cladding contributed points to this LEED Certified Building under LEED Core and Shell Development, version 2009. The Penn Medicine Washington Square tower features a green roof planted with sustainable sedums and metal screening designed to cover roof-top mechanical units. Both features were incorporated into the design in response to concerns of nearby apartment dwellers, according to Lehman.<\/p>\n

\u201cResidents in The St. James apartments are very happy with what they see out of their windows,\u201d said Lehman. \u201cThe building owners are happy with the facade design and that we\u2019ve created something interesting to see. This is a very handsome building. The ALUCOBOND\u00ae is really beautiful. \u2026 This building\u2019s unique design feature is the ALUCOBOND\u00ae material and what it offered in terms of colors and finishes. We painted with Alucobond.\u201d<\/p>\n

Photography courtesy of \u00a9 Jeffrey Totaro<\/a><\/p>\n\n\t\t