{"id":4887,"date":"2018-10-09T16:24:38","date_gmt":"2018-10-09T16:24:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.alucobondusa.com\/blog\/?p=4887"},"modified":"2025-09-05T14:52:17","modified_gmt":"2025-09-05T14:52:17","slug":"manufacturing-site-renovated-into-state-of-the-art-educational-facility-reflects-schools-identity-with-alucobond-acm-custom-colors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alucobondusa.com\/blog\/manufacturing-site-renovated-into-state-of-the-art-educational-facility-reflects-schools-identity-with-alucobond-acm-custom-colors\/","title":{"rendered":"Manufacturing Site Renovated Into State-of-the-Art Educational Facility Reflects School\u2019s Identity With ALUCOBOND ACM Custom Colors"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"Alucobond,<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

South Texas College (STC) officially opened its Technology Campus expansion in McAllen, Texas, in January 2018 with a unique ribbon-cutting ceremony in which college officials wielded a blow torch to cut a steel ribbon created by welding students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n
\n
\n

Highlights<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The $9.3 million 72,000-square-foot STC Technology Campus expansion features offices and classrooms as well as computer, training and robotics labs and sits adjacent to the current campus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Renovating the industrial building into an educational setting required working around a load-bearing wall in the middle of the manufacturing facility as well as existing columns, bracing and roof heights not designed for classrooms. The renovation required much of the existing building\u2019s interior to be demolished and an entrance created where there previously was none.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

n addition to the renovated building\u2019s decorative design elements clad in the Custom STC Violet ALUCOBOND\u00ae and Custom STC Green Alucobond, the building\u2019s design features a highly visible entrance to a two-story lobby that is covered by a canopy and columns clad in Silver Metallic Alucobond.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n

Project Name:<\/strong> South Texas College (STC) Technology Campus expansion

Location: <\/strong>McAllen, TX

ALUCOBOND\u00ae PLUS: <\/strong>Custom STC Green, Custom STC Violet, Silver Metallic

Architects:<\/strong> EGV Architects

Project Management: <\/strong>Broaddus & Associates

General Contractor<\/strong>: E-Con Group, LLC

Fabricator\/Installer: <\/strong>Bowman Distributing Co.

Photography:<\/strong> John Faulk, “before” image courtesy of EGV Architects<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n

\"Alucobond,<\/p>\n

The ceremony\u2019s memorably constructed ribbon and cutting technique were befitting of the former plastics manufacturing site, which was renovated to serve as home to the college\u2019s Institute of Advanced Manufacturing and offices of Continuing Professional Workforce Education as well as its welding, construction management, electrician technology and precision manufacturing programs.<\/p>\n

The $9.3 million 72,000-square-foot STC Technology Campus expansion features offices and classrooms as well as computer, training and robotics labs and sits adjacent to the current campus.<\/p>\n

\"Alucobond,<\/p>\n

\u201cThe existing building looked like a typical warehouse,\u201d said Eduardo Vela, AIA, principal, EGV Architects<\/a>, Inc., of Hidalgo, Texas, which served as architect of record for the project. \u201cWe had to start with a well-worn manufacturing site and turn it into a state-of-the-art teaching facility.\u201d<\/p>\n

The STC Technology Campus\u2019 mission is to provide students with hands-on educational experiences required to fill jobs in the area\u2019s industries.<\/p>\n

EGV Architects wanted to maintain an \u201cindustrial\u201d aesthetic in the retrofit as well as establish a campus identity, according to Vela. Part of that latter goal was met with the incorporation of custom STC school colors in building cladding.<\/p>\n

\"Alucobond,<\/p>\n

The project features 15,200 square feet of 4mm ALUCOBOND\u00ae aluminum composite material (ACM) by 3A Composites USA, including: 6,200 square feet of Custom STC Green, 2,700 square feet of Custom STC Violet and 6,300 square feet of Silver Metallic.<\/p>\n

The ALUCOBOND\u00ae colored panels were juxtaposed with cream-colored brick and brown split-face block wainscot on the building\u2019s facade.<\/p>\n

\"Alucobond,<\/p>\n

\u201cWe chose to use ALUCOBOND\u00ae as a decorative theme for the college,\u201d said Vela. \u201cIt\u2019s low maintenance and requires no painting. Once ALUCOBOND\u00ae is installed, it\u2019s there \u2013 unlike stucco that tends to fade. The custom green and violet ALUCOBOND\u00ae will be there for many years with no maintenance. The ALUCOBOND\u00ae was a good fit; it makes the campus architecturally appealing.\u201d<\/p>\n

While selecting weather-resistant ALUCOBOND\u00ae as decorative cladding may have been an easy choice, Vela said renovating an existing building designed for manufacturing into college classrooms, offices and labs was much more difficult than designing new construction.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a much more challenging role for the architect and design team,\u201d said Vela. \u201cWe had to work within the limits of the building\u2019s existing conditions. With new construction, you can do whatever you want. A renovation project adds an element of difficulty.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Alucobond,<\/p>\n

Renovating the industrial building into an educational setting required working around a load-bearing wall in the middle of the manufacturing facility as well as existing columns, bracing and roof heights not designed for classrooms. The renovation required much of the existing building\u2019s interior to be demolished and an entrance created where there previously was none.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe also wanted to use as much of the existing mechanical, electrical and plumbing as possible,\u201d according to Vela, who said new air-conditioning, ventilation and lighting systems were installed.<\/p>\n

\"Alucobond,<\/p>\n

EGV Architects was able to add 4,621 square of additional space to the existing building\u2019s north side to serve as an outdoor welding lecture space and lab while maintaining the industrial architectural idea, according to Vela.<\/p>\n

Broaddus & Associates<\/a>, headquartered in Austin, Texas, provided project management services for South Texas College. E-Con Group, LLC <\/a>, of Edinburg, Texas, served as general contractor for the project.<\/p>\n

Bowman Distributing Co.<\/a>, of San Benito, Texas, which fabricated and installed the ALUCOBOND\u00ae panels with a rain screen system, began work with EGV Architects in the design stage.<\/p>\n

\"Alucobond,<\/p>\n

\u201cWe recommended ALUCOBOND\u00ae because of the product\u2019s overall quality and the high quality of the paint that would be used to manufacture the custom colors,\u201d said Juan Marchan, member manager, Bowman Distributing. \u201cWe received approval for the first set of custom-colored ALUCOBOND\u00ae samples that we received. Normally, when we request custom colors of Alucobond, they are spot on and offer consistent quality.\u201d<\/p>\n

Processing all three ALUCOBOND\u00ae colors simultaneously presented challenges in maintaining proper sizes for each color, according to Marchan, who said the majority of the ALUCOBOND\u00ae was installed on the building\u2019s exterior.<\/p>\n

\"Alucobond,<\/p>\n

Bowman Distributing fabricated approximately 1,358 ALUCOBOND\u00ae panels, including: 742 Silver Metallic panels, 471 Custom STC Green panels and 145 Custom STC Violet panels. ALUCOBOND\u00ae panel sizes ranged from 9 inches by 2.5 feet up to 3 feet by 5 feet with a standard-sized panel measuring 2.5 feet by 4 feet.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was also a very challenging project because of the large span of bridge walls and the overall size of the project,\u201d said Marchan.<\/p>\n

In addition to the renovated building\u2019s decorative design elements clad in the Custom STC Violet ALUCOBOND\u00ae and Custom STC Green Alucobond, the building\u2019s design features a highly visible entrance to a two-story lobby that is covered by a canopy and columns clad in Silver Metallic Alucobond.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe entry to the campus is very visible to the whole area,\u201d said Marchan. \u201cWe\u2019ve received very positive comments from the architect about this project, and the school loved it. We\u2019re very pleased with the outcome of this project.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very impressed and satisfied with our work,\u201d said Vela. \u201cWe\u2019ve heard comments that there\u2019s no way this could be the original manufacturing site. It\u2019s a wonderful building.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

South Texas College (STC) officially opened its Technology Campus expansion in McAllen, Texas, in January 2018 with a unique ribbon-cutting ceremony in which college officials wielded a blow torch to cut a steel ribbon created by welding students.<\/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":[11,39,34,28,170,153,118,425,426,128,53],"class_list":["post-4887","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-case-studies","tag-acm","tag-acp","tag-aluminum-composite","tag-architecture","tag-construction","tag-custom-colors","tag-education","tag-expansion","tag-metal-building","tag-renovation","tag-retrofit-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alucobondusa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4887","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=4887"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.alucobondusa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4887\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7433,"href":"https:\/\/www.alucobondusa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4887\/revisions\/7433"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alucobondusa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4887"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alucobondusa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4887"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alucobondusa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4887"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}