{"id":3640,"date":"2017-04-11T12:33:16","date_gmt":"2017-04-11T12:33:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.alucobondusa.com\/blog\/?p=3640"},"modified":"2025-09-05T14:53:48","modified_gmt":"2025-09-05T14:53:48","slug":"luxury-apartment-buildings-sculptural-design-exudes-sophistication-with-alucobond-plus-acm-glass-modules","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alucobondusa.com\/blog\/luxury-apartment-buildings-sculptural-design-exudes-sophistication-with-alucobond-plus-acm-glass-modules\/","title":{"rendered":"Luxury Apartment Building’s Sculptural Design Exudes Sophistication With ALUCOBOND PLUS, Glass Modules"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\"Encore<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The Encore luxury apartments<\/a>, which opened in November 2016 in the historic Mill District of Minneapolis, were designed to offer expansive views of both the city and the nearby Mississippi River to residents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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Highlights<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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\u2022 The $36-million 12-story Encore features 123 luxury units, including multilevel townhomes with first-story private entrances, nine penthouse homes on the upper floors and a rooftop gathering space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 ESG created the building\u2019s L-shaped design to maximize views of nearby Gold Medal Park, the Mississippi River, the river-spanning historic Stone Arch Bridge, the district\u2019s historic mill buildings and downtown Minneapolis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 To create the appearance of a monolithic design, the Encore\u2019s fa\u00e7ade was formed with modules filled with glass and ALUCOBOND, complementing iron-spot brick installed on the building\u2019s first two stories.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Project:<\/strong> Encore Luxury Apartments

Location: <\/strong>Minneapolis

ALUCOBOND\u00ae PLUS<\/strong>: Silver Metallic, Brushed Stainless, Brushed Carbon, Focus Black, Anodic Clear

Architec<\/strong>t: ESG Architecture & Design

Fabricator\/Installer<\/strong>: Berwald Roofing & Sheet Metal Co., Inc.

General Contracto<\/strong>r: Doran Construction

Images:<\/strong> Bergerson Photography<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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The Project<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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While architects at Minneapolis-headquartered ESG Architecture & Design<\/a> designed the Encore with an abundance of windows to offer those vistas, they also wanted to minimize their impact on the building\u2019s monolithic, sculptural exterior design.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Encore<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t want the windows to appear as just holes in the walls,\u201d said Bob Loken, AIA, LEED AP, partner, ESG. The resulting unique fa\u00e7ade design consists of an overlaid grid pattern filled randomly with a combination of glass windows and ALUCOBOND\u00ae PLUSaluminum composite material (ACM) by 3A Composites USA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhether the modules are filled with windows or ALUCOBOND\u00ae panels, the walls and windows seem to blur together,\u201d said Loken. \u201cWe\u2019ve de-emphasized the punched-out look of the windows.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Situated near the Guthrie Theater \u2013 one of the nearby cultural institutions that inspired the luxury apartment building\u2019s moniker \u2013 the $36-million 12-story Encore features 123 luxury units, including multilevel townhomes with first-story private entrances, nine penthouse homes on the upper floors and a rooftop gathering space. The 175,000-square-foot Encore features a two-story boutique style lobby and is built over three levels of underground parking \u2013 the latter totaling 72,000 square feet below grade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ESG created the building\u2019s L-shaped design to maximize views of nearby Gold Medal Park, the Mississippi River, the river-spanning historic Stone Arch Bridge, the district\u2019s historic mill buildings and downtown Minneapolis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is a premiere site,\u201d said Loken. \u201cThe views from this building are stunning.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Encore<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

ESG envisioned the Encore as \u201ca sleek, sculptural building\u201d within the context of the Mill District, according to Loken, who cited the sculptural designs of both the neighborhood\u2019s Guthrie Theater and the new U.S. Bank Stadium, home of the National Football League\u2019s Minnesota Vikings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To create the appearance of a monolithic design, the Encore\u2019s fa\u00e7ade was formed with modules filled with glass and ALUCOBOND, complementing iron-spot brick installed on the building\u2019s first two stories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Encore<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A total of 61,158 square feet of ALUCOBOND\u00ae PLUS ACM was installed on the Encore in a complementary color palette, including: 26,909 square feet of Silver Metallic, 16,095 square feet of Brushed Stainless, 8,448 square feet of Brushed Graphite, 5,486 square feet of Focus Black, and 4,220 square feet of Anodic Clear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cALUCOBOND appears similar to glass in that it is very flat and smooth; it doesn\u2019t oil can,\u201d said Loken. \u201cWe chose a variety of ALUCOBOND\u00ae colors \u2013 within a primary gray palette \u2013 and finishes that reflect light differently under various conditions. The ALUCOBOND\u00ae panels seem to change color with the light.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Encore<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Loken said the ALUCOBOND\u00ae panels worked well with the glass to create the monolithic design.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPeople tend to think of glass as transparent; but, when you view glass on a building, it often appears to be black,\u201d said Loken. \u201cSo, we used black frames to reduce contrast between the glass and frames, making the window assembly appear more panel-like.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bloomington, Minn.-headquartered Doran Construction<\/a> served as general contractor for the project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Encore<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Berwald Roofing & Sheet Metal Co., Inc<\/a>., of North Saint Paul, Minn., fabricated and installed approximately 2,950 ALUCOBOND\u00ae PLUS panels in sizes ranging from 16 inches to 4 feet wide and up to 10 feet tall as well as other various sizes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ALUCOBOND\u00ae material was sold by EBP, LLC, of Excelsior, Minn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To create the overlaid grid pattern with multiple colors of ALUCOBOND\u00ae panels, Berwald Roofing & Sheet Metal employees utilized a detailed panel numbering system to ensure that the correct panel colors were installed in the correct locations on the building.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe had to develop a road map for installing all of the ALUCOBOND\u00ae around the building \u2013 including working in and out of recessed balconies and around windows \u2013 all while ensuring the various colors and sizes were installed in the correct location,\u201d said Brian Berwald, manager, Berwald Roofing & Sheet Metal, which created detailed shop drawings prior to fabrication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe were very impressed with Berwald\u2019s shop drawings,\u201d said Loken. \u201cThey were very detailed and thorough.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Panel installation was completed with a dry-set rainscreen system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs an area of the building was ready, we\u2019d perform onsite field measurements of that area to ensure that every panel would be fabricated to fit perfectly on the building,\u201d according to Berwald, who said employees utilized hydraulic mobile lifts for stability while installing the ALUCOBOND\u00ae panels in the traffic-congested downtown area. \u201cWe used our layout map to put the puzzle back together.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Encore luxury apartment building, owned by Encore Apartments, LLC, is the third in a series of projects developed on the same block by Sherman Associates, Inc., of Minneapolis, and designed by ESG. The first two projects include the Aloft Hotel and Zenith Condominiums.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Encore<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe knew our target market for the Encore,\u201d said Loken. \u201cWe needed a subtle, sophisticated look. The impression this building makes is one of sophistication and tailoring. \u2026 ALUCOBOND\u00ae precise reveals and factory-formed corners helped to emphasize the sculptural quality of this building.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All images courtesy of \u00a9Bergerson Photography<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Encore luxury apartments, which opened in November 2016 in the historic Mill District of Minneapolis, were designed to offer expansive views of both the city and the nearby Mississippi River to residents.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"no","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[11,39,34,342,28,102,29,222,93,30],"class_list":["post-3640","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-case-studies","tag-acm","tag-acp","tag-aluminum-composite","tag-apartments","tag-architecture","tag-cladding","tag-design","tag-housing","tag-panels","tag-residential"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alucobondusa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3640","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alucobondusa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alucobondusa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alucobondusa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alucobondusa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3640"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.alucobondusa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3640\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7519,"href":"https:\/\/www.alucobondusa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3640\/revisions\/7519"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alucobondusa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3640"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alucobondusa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3640"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alucobondusa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3640"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}