CASE STUDY: FINLEY CENTER SPORTS COMPLEX

The Finley Center sports complex in Hoover, Alabama, just outside Birmingham, features more than 100,000 square feet of insulated metal wall and roof panels.

As veteran designers of sports arenas and stadiums, the design team at Goodwyn Mills Cawood Architecture was drawn to an insulated metal panel building envelope from the project’s inception due to the fact that the IMPs provide all essential thermal and moisture controls in a single, easy-to-install component. “Our experience on collegiate sports facilities led us to select IMP products for the Finley Center for ease of installation in an accelerated construction schedule, compliance with energy code requirements, cleanliness, and rigidity of the interior of the building with minimal maintenance,” explains project manager Erik Consuegra.

The design team also placed a high emphasis on sustainability. All lighting throughout the sports complex is done via highly efficient LEDs, and the project provides athletes and fans with access to natural light by incorporating translucent panel clerestories and fenestration into the facades that enclose the event and auxiliary spaces. The use of IMPs also support sustainable design as the panels are constructed from recycled material and equip the building envelope to deliver a high level of thermal performance that reduces the energy that must be consumed to condition and maintain the interior space.

The architectural team selected IMPs in vibrant colors—blue and grey—to complement the surrounding facilities. “The greys and blues of the Finley Center are primarily drawn from the adjacent Hoover Metropolitan Baseball Stadium that has Hoover-city blue roofing and exposed cast-in-place concrete. There was a desire for these two facilities to visually relate to one another, creating a common sports campus language,” says Consuegra.

CASE STUDY: PEPPER GEDDINGS RECREATIONAL FACILITY ROOF

Photo courtesy of Metl-Span

IMP roofing solved mold, mildew, and condensation problems at the Pepper Geddings Recreational Facility in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

The original roofing system on the Pepper Geddings natatorium was sagging. Mold and mildew had infiltrated the batt insulation and the continued exposure to condensation had caused the structure to rust. The City of Myrtle Beach in South Carolina needed an efficient and cost-effective method of dealing with this issue, so that the pool could be open in time for summer vacation.

IMPs with a 6-inch urethane core were selected for the project. The exterior face featured a special coastal finish to better stand up to the salty sea air as the facility is about a mile from the Atlantic Ocean. The interior face was also coated to withstand exposure to chlorine.

“The insulated metal panel is an all-in-one product,” explains Michael Walker, AIA, LEED AP, at Tych & Walker of Murrells Inlet, S.C. “The interior panel was coated with a product that is resistant to chlorine. The six inches of insulation gave us the R-value we wanted and the standing seam metal roofing.”

Spann Roofing & Sheet Metal of Conway, S.C., installed more than 9,000 square feet of insulated metal panels on the roof. “It was a tight schedule and challenging working above a pool, but the installation was pretty straightforward, and the manufacturer did a good job of taking us through the drawings,” says Jimbo Spann, project manager.

The installation crews were onsite for about four weeks and wrapped up in April 2015, in plenty of time for the summer season.