Sykes Chapel and Center for Faith and Values at the University of Tampa, Tampa, Fla.
Posted
12/7/2011
As a private, secular
university serving more than 5,000 students from 50 different
states and approximately 100 countries, the University of Tampa
sought to build a structure that would strengthen student
development through spirituality and independent growth. Funded by
John and Susan Sykes, the Sykes Chapel and Center for Faith and
Values at the University of Tampa allows students to balance their
educational and intellectual development with their personal and
spiritual growth relative to life values and goals.
As a private, secular university serving more than 5,000
students from 50 different states and approximately 100 countries,
the University of Tampa sought to build a structure that would
strengthen student development through spirituality and independent
growth. Funded by John and Susan Sykes, the Sykes Chapel and Center
for Faith and Values at the University of Tampa allows students to
balance their educational and intellectual development with their
personal and spiritual growth relative to life values and
goals.
"The chapel/center was designed to elicit spiritual, sensory and
emotional responses by the building users," explains Robert Balke,
principal for tvdesign, Atlanta. "The building interior is shaped
by light and sound. Like two cupped hands held slightly apart,
light enters from above and from the east. Daylight and music are
reflected and diffused by the warm, curving interior forms of the
undulating wooden walls."
The 15,000-square-foot structure includes a main hall with
seating for 260 people for lectures, ceremonies, discussions and
musical performances including those with its 55-foot-tall
custombuilt organ. In addition, the facility offers meeting rooms,
two meditation rooms and a gallery. Brick, high-performance glass,
granite and RHEINZINK comprise the primary materials of the
building's exterior palette.
RHEINZINK supplied three different products for this project.
Approximately 17,500 square feet of 0.8-mm, 22-gauge RHEINZINK
Double Lock Standing Seam Panels clad the roof, while approximately
6,500 square feet of 1.2-mm, 18-gauge RHEINZINK Vertical Reveal
Panels clad the façade and soffits. Additionally, 3,000 square feet
of zinc composite material were used on the fascia and canopies.
All RHEINZINK products were finished in Pre-weathered Blue
Gray.
The durability and sustainability of RHEINZINK was an important
factor. "We see this as an enduring, 100-year building," Balke
notes. "The self-healing nature of zinc and the fact that it will
patina over time was important to us. The building will look even
better as it ages."
Construction manager: Peter R. Brown Construction Inc.,
Tampa
Architect: tvdesign, Atlanta
Building and site design team: Walter P. Moore and
Associates Inc., Atlanta; Anston-Greenlees
Inc., Tampa; Kirkegaard Associates, Chicago
Fabricator: MetalTech-USA, Peachtree City,
Ga.
Installers: General Works of Tampa, Tampa; Architectural
Systems Inc., Tampa
Metal roof and wall panels: RHEINZINK America Inc.,
Woburn, Mass., www.rheinzink.com,