The metal panels are much lighter in weight and much more dimensionally stable than real wood, while still imparting warmth to the space.
A metal blade ceiling system in a radius mimics wood beams in All Saints’ Episcopal School’s Sellers and Campbell Union building. Panels were installed in two spans that mirror the roof design. One span is 21 feet long and slopes down slightly from a chapel-facing window wall. The other span is 7 feet long and slopes down from an opposite wall. A gap separates the spans and leaves space for structural columns.
Nestor Hurtado, project manager at Marek Brothers Systems Inc., says, “Despite the overall size and complexity of the job, the crews were able to install the ceiling with very few issues. Armstrong’s CAD department played a huge part on this installation by providing detailed shop drawings for the field team to follow.”
To simplify the layout of the first bay of panels, Hurtado says crews laid out the blade pattern on the slab before installing it in the ceiling, and then shot lasers up onto the deck.
“It probably took close to a day to lay out the first bay, but, once we had it, we were able to move quickly through the rest of the project because the dimensions were similar for each successive bay,” he says. “By laying out each subsequent radial blade pattern on the slab first, our marks in the air were spot on, which maintained consistent spacing between blades, an important aesthetic consideration.”
Marek Brothers Systems installed 10,000 feet (1,100 panels) of Armstrong Ceiling and Wall Solutions’ extruded aluminum MetalWorks Blades Classics metal ceiling system with vertical, 1-inch-thick, 4-inch-wide panels in Effects Cherry.
The metal ceiling’s wood look connects the design to the chapel. Brady Dietert of Overland Partners Inc., says, “The chapel features wood in its ceiling and we wanted the student union to echo that same material quality.”
Metal that mimics wood was an easier material to build the ceiling than real wood, Dietert says. “The metal panels are much lighter in weight and much more dimensionally stable than real wood, while still imparting warmth to the space. The ceiling is high enough that occupants can’t tell that it’s not real wood.”
