Award-winning complex has many living building features
When thinking about Pittsburgh, you might mistakenly envision rusted old steel mills falling into a river. However, today, this city of 90 neighborhoods, three rivers and a thriving cultural district has much to offer residents and visitors alike. One of the neighborhoods is known as Pittsburgh’s East End, which includes Bakery Square.
This walking community features many trendy stores and restaurants. It’s helping to shape Pittsburgh’s new urban aesthetic, blending historic architecture with innovative green construction. Nabisco had a huge cracker manufacturing plant here for more than 80 years. It has now been transformed into a contemporary center for living, featuring sustainable construction and amenities that support an active, socially centered lifestyle.
Located across from the dynamic Bakery Square, Bakery Living offers upscale apartments and shared spaces to their residents, with many amenities. This 175-unit, five-story building has spacious, open floor plans with 8-foot windows that admit abundant natural light and inspiring courtyard and park views. Expansive 9-foot ceilings, rich, rustic, natural wood-inspired flooring throughout, and private balconies or walk-out patios in many of the units add to the appeal of this ultimate lifestyle center. Other extras include chef-grade kitchens, large, spa-inspired bathrooms and generous walk-in closets. It even has a green roof on top of underground parking.
A Master Plan
After a groundbreaking in February 2013, the Bakery Living building was completed in June 2014. It is part of the first phase of the Bakery Square 2.0 Master Plan that its architect, Strada, Pittsburgh,has been implementing with Pittsburgh-based developer Walnut Capital since 2011.
Bakery Living builds on the initial success of Bakery Square. This prime location is directly across from the renovated Nabisco building, setting the stage for a complete neighborhood with residences, green spaces and additional commercial areas. The transformation of this 12.5-acre property, formerly a public school, speaks to larger shifts in the urban landscape.
Designed for active city dwellers, Bakery Living, however, employs contemporary materials and systems that maximize light and fresh air while maintaining efficiency. Impervious paving that served as the school’s parking lot is being replaced by new green infrastructure that will help moderate stormwater flows. At ground level, residents benefit from new pedestrian and transit connections to adjacent neighborhoods, with a nod to earlier decades of the 20th century when this parcel was part of the old neighborhood’s grid of residential streets.
Strada, the design firm’s name, means “street” in Italian. The firm considers streets to be the fundamental infrastructure of cities and the core of civic lives. Streets are seen as the connections between buildings, people and public spaces, and that is why they are so inspired by them. It was a shared commitment to those values that brought the firm’s principals together. Founded in Pittsburgh, Strada also has an office in Philadelphia and is designing projects throughout the East Coast.
Restoration Materials
For the Bakery Living project, the architects sought locally sourced materials for the restoration, which led them to ATAS International Inc., Allentown, Pa. “The Grand C panel in Silversmith 0.032 aluminum
was installed horizontally on the building, while the same panel in Classic Bronze 0.032 was installed vertically on the exterior of the structure housing the all-season pool,” says Lee Ann M. Slattery, CSI, CCPR, LEED AP BD+C, sales support manager at ATAS International. “This durable metal wall panel adds to the high-tech and innovative vibe of the community. PenumWall panels in 0.032 Dove Grey were used vertically as additional wall cladding. Design Wall panels in 0.032 Dove Grey were installed as soffit panels in certain areas and Dutch Seam metal panels in 0.04 Dove Grey were used on some of the building’s roof sections.”
The building’s highly engineered panel design guards against wind-driven rain and wind uplift, while still allowing for air permeability. The metal is precision leveled at the factory prior to forming the panels, which improves the quality and consistency of the finished product. The high-performance PVDF paint finish on all of the ATAS wall and roof panels used on Bakery Living will ensure the color maintains its integrity over time.
Mohawk Construction and Supply Co., McMurray, Pa., installed the metal wall panels. “Working in conjunction with our minority business enterprise (MBE) partner, GQ Contracting LLC, [McMurray, Pa.,] we used the aluminum ATAS products to achieve both aesthetic and LEED objectives,” says Robert J. Quarture Jr., outside sales manager, Mohawk Construction and Supply. “The ATAS product profiles, along with a wide array of color selections, helped create a vibrant unique project that works with the other cladding systems on the project.”
“The owner and the general contractor are very pleased with the product and the quality of the installation, plus the project was profitable for us,” says Mark D. Viehman, senior project manager at Mohawk Construction and Supply. “That is a win-win for all parties involved.”
Bakery Awards
The lively new residential building received a Best in American Living Award from the National Association of Home Builders in January 2016. Bakery Living took top honors in the category, “Development of 5 Stories & Over, For Rent,” earning a Platinum award. The jury applauded the project for nurturing a culture of social interaction through a series of shared spaces that total over 9,000 square feet.
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Sidebar: Bakery Living, Pittsburgh
Owner: Walnut Capital, Pittsburgh
General Contractor: PJ Dick, Pittsburgh
Architect: Strada, Pittsburgh
Distributor: Brock Associates LLC, Pittsburgh
Installer: Mohawk Construction and Supply Co., McMurray, Pa.
Metal wall panels: ATAS International Inc., Allentown, Pa., www.atas.com
