Slot-car style home achieves a bold look
Craig and Julie Nothstine’s Green Bay, Wis., house’s extruded surface has vibrant yellow bands that weave around its façade giving its exterior the appearance of a large-scale racetrack, which reflects the owner’s hobby of slot car racing.
The house underwent a change when its original fiberglass exterior was replaced with a new system of sheet metal installed by Manitowoc, Wis.-based Crafts Inc. Steve Weinert, president at Crafts, explains: “The building shape is very complex, making the layout and shaping of the tight radiuses a challenge for both the factory curving and for the field team. As the roof panel system goes inverted, the panel system needs to change for environmental design reasons, which added to the challenge. The complex eyebrows from walls to the panels were somewhat freeform and organic in the original fiberglass covered design, requiring hand-fabricated panels to be created to ‘flow’ the building construction together.”
The house is on a bluff overlooking the bay just outside of Green Bay. “The landscaping and steepness of the job site required extra care and the building of platform scaffolding to get the craftsmen the access needed,” says Weinert. “Winter off the bay in Wisconsin is a challenge, with job-site winds and low temperatures slowing outside renovation work at times. The Nothstine family lived in the home throughout the process, which required extra care in safety, personal privacy and event schedules between the field team and the family members.”
Using a distinctly colored, almost iridescent, metal panel system from Burlington, N.J.-based Merchant & Evans Inc., Crafts restored the original design envisioned by the project’s Chicago-based architect Doug Garofalo. Garofalo, who died in July 2012, was known for his striking designs. The new exterior paneling system was factory- and handfabricated, and installed throughout a yearlong renovation at the site. The new exterior covering creates a bolder color effect.
Merchant and Evans’ BD-1520 Pan and Batten System was rollformed in 0.050-inch smooth aluminum, coated with Minneapolis-based Valspar’s Valflon system in a Canary Yellow color. The aluminum material covered the original fiberglass exterior, which was failing and did not achieve the bold appearance the owners wanted. Also, the aluminum base metal in conjunction with the extruded aluminum joint assembly of BD-1520 panels allowed the system to conform to the tight radii application of this unique project.
“Our system’s curving capabilities utilized a custom-extruded aluminum joint assembly, along with the skilled craftsmanship of Crafts, allowed the project to achieve the bold look the owners desired,” says Ron Jaconelli, vice president of promotional sales and marketing, Merchant & Evans. “The aluminum also reduced the labor for the installing contractor, as it is a much more workable material that aided in achieving this complicated design. With the right combination of the proper panel system, a quality installer and the proper metal, just about any dramatic design can be achieved!”
The Nothstine Residence, Green Bay, Wis.
Completed: February 2012
Total square footage: 5,000 square feet
Building owner: Craig and Julie Nothstine
Architect: Garofalo Architects Inc., Chicago, www.garofaloarchitects.com
Reconstruction architect: Bay Architects LLC, Green Bay, Wis.,
(920) 337-9400
Metal installer: Crafts Inc., Manitowoc, Wis., www.craftsroofing.com
Sales representation: John Anzivino, President of Saturn Wisconsin, Saturn, Wis., (414) 975-5646
Coating: Valspar, Minneapolis, www.paintandcolor.com
Metal panels: Merchant & Evans Inc., Burlington, N.J., www.ziprib.com
