Exterior anodized aluminum panel rainscreen highlights convention center
 |
Owensboro, Ky., played a minor part in the Civil War, served as
(and still is) an important river port, was the site of the last public hanging in U.S. history, gave birth to Bluegrass music and is the boyhood home of actor Johnny Depp.
It’s also now the home of the Owensboro-Daviess Convention Center, a multipurpose facility that brings Western Kentucky a new and premier meeting space. Completed in early 2014, the convention center project utilized an exterior anodized aluminum panel rainscreen system engineered and fabricated by MetalTech-USA, Peachtree City, Ga., with Class I anodized aluminum finish from Lorin Industries, Muskegon, Mich. The installer was Fulton, Miss.- based FLC Systems, and the general contractor was Denark Construction Inc., Knoxville, Tenn.
Situated on the banks of the Ohio River, the new convention center rises three stories and spans 177,000 square feet. The facility meets all the typical functionality requirements of contemporary convention centers, notably 40,000 square feet of exhibition space, nearly 30,000 square feet of meeting space and extensive public lobbies, as well as service and support facilities. Most importantly, it also serves as a significant economic development tool and an architectural centerpiece of the downtown master redevelopment plan.
“Lorin Industries is proud to have played a role in the project collaboration involving the design of the Owensboro, Kentucky Convention Center,” says Steven Soderberg, corporate marketing and sales manager of Lorin Industries. “This project was conceived by the design team and architects at New Orleans-based Trahan Architects, and through the collaboration of Trahan Architects, Lorin Industries, MetalTech-USA and FLC Systems, the results were absolutely stunning.”
Early 1800s tobacco barns found throughout the Kentucky region inspired Trahan’s design on the building’s exterior. To achieve this look, Trahan juxtaposed MetalTech-USA’s Reveal panel system with Lorin Industries’ BlackMatt ColorIn Long Line Brushed finish on the building’s exterior with ClearMatt Long Line Brushed finish on the soffits and inward-facing exterior walls. This combination created the dramatic effect they wanted to accomplish.
Also integral in achieving this look is the rainscreen system engineered and fabricated by MetalTech-USA. This system, composed of roughly 100,000 square feet of Anodized Aluminum Vertical Interlocking Reveal Panels, was designed with minimal flashing and panel joints to create the sleek exterior. To minimize visible flashings and trim there had to be a great deal of one-off panel fabrication to fit tight design specifications.
 |
“Because of the nature of the angular wings at the north and south ends of the building, and the vertical orientation of the panel system, we were left with hundreds of panels with ranging lengths that required an angled panel,” says Eric Simonsen, MetalTech-USA vice president of project management. “Each panel had to fit in an exact location on the building, otherwise it would have been useless. This required extensive logistical planning, detailed field verification by the installer and tight fabrication tolerances.”
FLC Systems installed panel layouts on a vertical running bond with a 1/8-inch reveal in the panels. Unfortunately, this left the company with little room for error or building construction tolerances. “The large soffit panels were all laid out on an angle and every panel was skewed to the building, making this one of the most difficult layouts we have had to do on a building,” says Chad Martin, division president of FLC Systems. “All of this factored in with a dark anodized aluminum single-skin panel made for a difficult project.”
Owensboro Convention Center was honored with the award of 2015 Top New or Renovated Meeting Site Award by Convention South, the national multimedia resource for planning events held in the South.
Sidebar: Owensboro-Daviess Convention Center, Daviess County, Ky.
Owner: Owensboro-Daviess County Industrial Development Authority
General contractor: Denark Construction Inc., Knoxville, Tenn.
Architect: Trahan Architects, New Orleans
Installer: FLC Systems, Fulton, Miss.
Fabricator: MetalTech-USA, Peachtree City, Ga., www.metaltech-usa.com
Anodized aluminum: Lorin Industries, Muskegon, Mich.
