{"id":710,"date":"2005-11-28T18:00:44","date_gmt":"2005-11-28T18:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.alucobondusa.com\/blog\/?p=710"},"modified":"2025-09-05T15:10:41","modified_gmt":"2025-09-05T15:10:41","slug":"family-eye-ent-center","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alucobondusa.com\/blog\/family-eye-ent-center\/","title":{"rendered":"Family Eye & ENT Center"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Alucobond,<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Project Name:<\/th>\nFamily Eye & ENT Center<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Project Location:<\/th>\nWillmar, Minnesota<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
ALUCOBOND\u00ae PLUS Materials:<\/th>\n15,200 sq. ft. 4mm Custom Blue,
\n5,600 sq.ft. 4mm Silver Metallic<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Year of Installation:<\/th>\n2005<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Architect:<\/th>\nEckert and Wordel, Kalamazoo, MI<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Fabricator:<\/th>\nUnlimited Image, Inc., Burnsville, MN<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Installer:<\/th>\nSpecialty Systems, Inc., Burnsville, MN<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Attachment Method:<\/th>\nRout and Return Wet Seal<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Owners create regional focal point with contemporary building design<\/p>\n

When the physician-owners of Family Eye Center first envisioned building a new regional center in Willmar, Minn., offering a total package of eye care services \u2013 from yearly eye examinations to LASIK and cataract surgery, treatment of eye diseases, fashion and budget eye ware, and contact lens fitting \u2013 they wanted the building\u2019s architectural design to stand out.<\/p>\n

(The physician-owners of Family Eye Center partnered with another physician who specializes in ear, nose and throat medicine to create the Family Eye & ENT Center in Willmar.)<\/p>\n

While the Prairie architectural style \u2013 characterized by horizontal lines, flat roofs with overhanging eaves, open floor plans and natural materials \u2013 is popular in the Willmar area, Family Eye & ENT Center owners reviewed a number of architectural styles, according to Jim Bach, director of sales and marketing for Marcus Construction Co., of Prinsburg, Minn., which served as general contractor for Family Eye & ENT Center.<\/p>\n

\"Alucobond,<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThis building is very modern-looking, which was the owners\u2019 intent,\u201d said Bach. \u201cAlthough there are a lot of Prairie style buildings in Willmar, the owners wanted this building to be a focal point for the region \u2013 to be set apart.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe goal of these physicians was to have something that had never been seen in town,\u201d said Katie Jacobs, AIA, associate, Eckert Wordell of Kalamazoo, Mich., which designed the center. \u201cThey wanted a signature building \u2013 something that was more contemporary. \u2026 There\u2019s a lot of new technology in ophthalmology. The building reflects that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 31,750-square-foot Family Eye & ENT Center consists of two buildings \u2013 a 25,000-square-foot two-story clinic with basement and one-story 6,750-square-foot surgery center. The buildings are connected by two walkways. Total building cost was $5,881,000.<\/p>\n

To help achieve a clean, modern architectural look, ALUCOBOND\u00ae aluminum composite material (ACM) by 3A Composites USA was installed as wall cladding over approximately 80 percent of Family Eye & ENT Center.<\/p>\n

Unlimited Image, Inc., of Burnsville, Minn., fabricated 15,200 square feet of ALUCOBOND\u00ae ACM in the custom blue color and 4 mm thickness and 5,600 square feet of ALUCOBOND\u00ae ACM in the silver metallic color and 4 mm thickness for Family Eye & ENT Center.<\/p>\n

ALUCOBOND\u00ae is an aluminum composite material that consists of two sheets of .02\u201d aluminum thermobonded to a plastic core. ALUCOBOND\u00ae provides extraordinary flatness and rigidity, excellent formability, low weight and outstanding weather resistance.<\/p>\n

Specialty Systems, Inc., of Burnsville, Minn., installed the ALUCOBOND\u00ae in its standard rout and return wet set system. Wall panels were installed over 2-inch galvanized \u201cZ\u201d frame fabricated by Specialty Systems with Dynamic stainless steel fasteners. Panels were sealed with Dow Corning 756 silicone.<\/p>\n

\"Alucobond,<\/a><\/p>\n

The blend of ALUCOBOND\u00ae in the custom blue and silver metallic colors and panel sizes \u2013 combined with the building\u2019s wheat-colored brick work and glass \u2013 contribute to this facility\u2019s unique character and design elements.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe entire interior color palette played off the exterior colors,\u201d said Jacobs. \u201cThis is one of our best detailed buildings. A lot of attention was paid to the concept and color detail. \u2026 At the same time, the doctors didn\u2019t want the building to appear ostentatious to patients. So, we designed a high-tech state-of-the-art medical building that\u2019s also approachable and comfortable.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to meeting the building owners\u2019 goal for a contemporary architectural look, the ALUCOBOND\u00ae ACM also met their durability and maintenance requirements.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlucobond worked well in this modern design,\u201d said Bach. \u201cBuilding maintenance also was a very important issue. The doctors wanted a low-maintenance building. And, since we were building in Minnesota, we wanted to make sure that the ALUCOBOND\u00ae was durable enough to handle the winters here with wind chills that can get as low as 50 below. It seems to be withstanding the winds and cold weather quite well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Construction of the Family Eye & ENT Center began in July 2004 and was completed in November 2005.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ease of installation of the ALUCOBOND\u00ae kept us on schedule,\u201d said Bach.<\/p>\n

The physician-owners of Family Eye & ENT Center have been pleased with their modern building design choice, according to Bach. \u201cThe doctors love it,\u201d he said. \u201cThey feel like they\u2019re working in a unique facility designed just for them and their patients. It\u2019s comfortable yet modern.\u201d<\/p>\n

And, if imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, the physician-owners of Family Eye & ENT Center should feel well-complimented. According to Bach, this modern design has started something of a trend in Willmar, which recorded a population of 18,351 in the 2000 census.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople like the idea that it\u2019s setting a standard for new buildings,\u201d said Bach. \u201cWe\u2019re seeing that in town already. Designs are getting more outside the box.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Project Name: Family Eye & ENT Center Project Location: Willmar, Minnesota ALUCOBOND\u00ae PLUS Materials: 15,200 sq. ft. 4mm Custom Blue, 5,600 sq.ft. 4mm Silver Metallic Year of Installation: 2005 Architect: Eckert and Wordel, Kalamazoo, MI Fabricator: Unlimited Image, Inc., Burnsville, MN Installer: Specialty Systems, Inc., Burnsville, MN Attachment Method: Rout and Return Wet Seal Owners […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[11,39,37,38,28,48,29,55],"class_list":["post-710","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-case-studies","tag-acm","tag-acp","tag-aluminum-composite-material","tag-aluminum-composite-panel","tag-architecture","tag-building","tag-design","tag-hospitals-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alucobondusa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/710","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=710"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.alucobondusa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/710\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7455,"href":"https:\/\/www.alucobondusa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/710\/revisions\/7455"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alucobondusa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=710"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alucobondusa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=710"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alucobondusa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=710"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}