The South Market District in New Orleans is an emerging area that is transforming the historic downtown. The development combines luxury apartments with a mix of shops, cafes, restaurants and entertainment venues.
At the heart of the five-block area is The Beacon, a seven-story, 172,000-square-foot apartment building that makes a contribution to the evolving urban fabric of New Orleans. Drawing inspiration from the courtyards in the French Quarter, The Beacon is wrapped around an elevated interior green space courtyard that provides a public space for residents.
The walls of the courtyard are clad with 21,000-square-feet of PAC-CLAD Reveal Panels finished in Silversmith color. “We wanted a material that was maintenance-friendly and would reflect the sunlight to brighten up the interior courtyard,” says Hussein Alayyan, project architect with Eskew+Dumez+Ripple in New Orleans. “The design team also liked the horizontal banding and the clean look that the Petersen Reveal Panels provided,” Alayyan says.
“There were a number of inspirations that drove the design concepts for The Beacon,” Alayyan adds. “One was exploring the idea of a geode where the form is somewhat austere on the exterior and then more vibrant on the interior once you cut into the stone.” The front elevation of The Beacon is clad with masonry and accented with aluminum composite material (ACM) panels. “Petersen created a custom color for us that would complement the ACM,” Alayyan says.
Installation of the PAC-CLAD Reveal Panels from Petersen was completed by John W. McDougall Co. in Nashville. “McDougall did a nice job on the installation,” Alayyan says. “And there were some of the geometries along the monumental stairs leading to the courtyard that were challenging.”
The panels were fabricated at the Petersen plant in Acworth, Ga.