exteriors
PROJECT
Community Center Is A Standout A translucent wall system sets a facility apart from the ordinary.
W
hen officials of the City of Maryland
The community center for the City of Maryland Heights, just outside St. Louis, uses a translucent wall system to diminish unsightly views, glare, heat, and noise, without compromising the amount of daylight in the building.
noise coming from the neighboring major highway.
ence across the greater community. Early in the planning
Heights, just outside St. Louis, commit-
“The clear acoustical interlayer allowed us to increase
process the city challenged the architects to design a
ted to replacing their original communi-
the STC [sound-transmission class] level on the east fa-
building that could be seen as a city landmark from all
ty center, a converted church from the 1970s, they had
cade while maintaining a consistent aesthetic with the
angles—specifically by those driving on the highway.
big aspirations for the impact the facility would have on
non-acoustically treated panels. This successfully resulted
“Part of the thought process behind using the panels
the community. Several design goals were specified for
in a visually seamless transition around the building,”
was to have a glowing beacon and lantern, an entry point
the new center, ranging from blocking unsightly views
explained Schenck.
and symbol for the City of Maryland Heights, during the
and reducing noise to finding a translucent facade that
The neighboring highway, in addition to being a noise
could meet the aesthetic needs of the building’s curved
source, was incredibly unsightly, so it was important to
To achieve this, the building was designed to offer a
and tapered walls.
allow daylighting into the space while controlling what
similar aesthetic between the translucent system and
day and night,” said Schenck.
The architectural firm, CannonDesign, St. Louis, was
aspects of the nearby landscape visitors could see from
metal panels during the day, while at night the facade is
able to meet, and go beyond, all of the design challenges
inside the facility. CannonDesign incorporated clear
transformed by a glowing ribbon of translucent panels as
with the help of UniQuad, a translucent wall system de-
glass into the facade of the 90,000-sq.-ft. center in con-
they are backlit by the interior lighting. The resulting aes-
veloped by Kingspan Light + Air (formerly CPI Day-
junction with the 9,284-sq.-ft. of UniQuad panels, speci-
thetic is noticeably unique, and helps establish the large
lighting), Lake Forest, IL (cpidaylighting.com).
fied in clear over white matte colors, to provide the ap-
presence within the community that city officials wanted
propriate views necessary to achieve the solution.
to accomplish.
A significant challenge for the project’s facade was that it required a product that would diminish unsightly
“The interior of the building creates a series of alter-
“The new community center has become a source of
views, glare, heat, and noise, without compromising the
nating experiences framed by transparent and translu-
pride for the community and exceeded Maryland
amount of daylight in the building. The center, sand-
cent materials,” said Schenck. “The UniQuad system
Heights’ goals for memberships and program participa-
wiched between one of St. Louis’ busiest highways and a
provides a fantastic diffused-light condition that strategi-
tion,” said Schenck. The community center earned Can-
strip mall, was particularly concerned with noise levels
cally limits views to the outdoors and focuses attention to
nonDesign a 2017 AIA St. Louis Honor Award. CA
around the facility.
the activity within.”
“Being right next to highway 270, we had to take
The overall building design was also a huge point of
acoustics into consideration, but also wanted to fill the
concern for the community center due to its curved and
space with natural, diffused light. That’s why we chose
tapered walls. Not only was the UniQuad system able to
UniQuad wall light,” said architect William Schenck,
meet the design needs of the facility, while boasting an
AIA, LEED AP, senior associate, CannonDesign.
impressive 10-ft. panel span, but also by using insulated
The panels were selected for the community center
metal panels that aligned with the translucent glazing
for their scalability and the additional sound-reduction
joints, an almost seamless transition was created between
capabilities they provided. Specified with an acoustical
the two materials.
interlayer for the center’s east facade, the translucent pan-
Another important component of the center’s design
els were a critical component because they masked the
was that the city wanted the facility to have a real pres-
52
COMMERCI A L A RCHI T EC T URE
APRIL 2018
commercialarchitecturemagazine.com
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