Sharpsburg Community Library, Sharpsburg, Pa.
Retrofit Team
Architect: Front Studio Architects, Pittsburgh
Metal Panel Installer: Franjo Construction Corp., Homestead, Pa.
Metal Panel Distributor: Brock Associates LLC, Pittsburgh
Materials
Approximately 2,600 square feet of PAC-CLAD 7/8-inch Corrugated Panels in five different colors was installed. The 0.032-inch aluminum panels were finished in Award Blue, Cardinal Red, Copper Penny, Patina Green and Silver.
The decision to use metal as the primary exterior façade material was made fairly early in the design process. “As soon as we knew we wanted the building to be colorful, metal became the obvious choice for the exterior,” explains Front Studio Architects Principal Art Lubetz. “We had an extremely minimal budget for the project. PAC-CLAD corrugated metal would be the most economical, long-lasting material we could use. We got involved with Petersen because we like their colors. The contractor bid it out and the price was right.”
Durability and low maintenance were key factors, too. “The longevity of the product was important,” Lubetz adds. “This is a little tiny library with little tiny budgets. We knew the PAC-CLAD corrugated wouldn’t require much attention in terms of maintenance. That’s another strong reason we used it.”
Skip Stein, project manager with Franjo Construction, likes the look of the new building: “It certainly sets itself apart from the other construction in the area. It’s almost an amusement park appearance that the kids really like. The architect really did a nice job of mixing and matching the colors.”
Corrugated metal continues to be a popular architectural material, Stein notes. “We see corrugated popping up all over the place. This job was relatively straightforward, though the building was irregular and didn’t have many 90-degree corners. That made installation of some of the outside corners a little challenging. But the corrugated really turned out great.”
Lubetz agrees: “I couldn’t be happier with the way the project turned out. And the use of the PAC-CLAD had a lot to do with it.”
Metal Panels: Petersen Aluminum Corp.
The Retrofit
The multi-colored facility is making a splash in this small town a few miles north of Pittsburgh. The 1-story concrete block building library patrons previously frequented has been surrounded by vividly colored geometric shapes. Front Studio Architects initially was hired to design an addition on the back of the existing library building. “But it was such an unattractive structure that we just couldn’t do it,” Lubetz explains. “We came up with the idea of literally surrounding the building with simple, elemental blocks that would be individually colored so that we would have this pulsating, dynamic structure.”
“It would be hard to miss the building’s new design,” notes Kathy Amrhein, library director.
Photo: ©2015 Ed Massery