Project Profiles

Metal Panels Provide Sleek Look for California Apartments

Façade Blends a Mix of Materials for Unique Residential Aesthetic.

The design goal for the 620 Veterans Boulevard Radius Apartments was to present a luxurious residential community through the use of a variety of products, including metal wall panels from Morin, A Kingspan Group Company.

The 264-unit luxury apartments in Redwood City, Calif., consisted of two wood-framed apartment buildings with above-ground parking. The project’s façade incorporated a predominantly stucco exterior, with brick, fiber cement siding and aluminum siding and soffit accents. A dramatic architectural steel canopy extends over the private road entrance, forming a visual gateway up to the landscaped podium decks.

“We went with steel on the corners for a sleek look,” said Alex Koulouris, senior associate at BDE Architecture in San Francisco. “The panels were chosen for their simplicity and clean lines, as opposed to a corrugated look of other metal products.”

In addition to the apartments with high-end finishes, the LEED-certified community offers many attractive amenities, including a fitness center, pool, spa, recreation room, outdoor barbecues and seating area as well as a dog park.

BDE associate Grant Weaver, who works on many of the firm’s multifamily projects with Koulouris and president Jonathan Ennis, said the metal wall panels brought a refined appearance to the project. “In the end, the use of metal helped pronounce the corners of the two buildings,” he said. “It brought a more distinguished aesthetic to a residential project than other material choices could have. The metal helps break up the massing in a project of this stature. It’s not a singular box, it has shadows and variations in material, with metal, stucco and brick.”

Alumawall of San Jose, Calif., installed three different MORIN profiles: XC-12 .040-inch aluminum panels in 1.0 mil Weathered Zinc; XG-12 .040-inch aluminum panels in 1.0 mil Weathered Zinc; and F-12-0 .040-inch aluminum in 1.0 mil Silversmith. All were flush panels with no ribs or striations.

“The design that was put together for this project mixed profile types and panel sizes together and the end result was a unique project,” said David Warda, president of Alumawall.

Warda said Alumawall won the bid on the project for a couple reasons. “We partnered with MORIN on this project from the start and MORIN did a good job of getting its products specified,” he said. “The tipping point with the general contractor was price and the verification they’d be working with a qualified installer. We’ve worked a lot with MORIN and will continue to do so in the future.”

Warda said Alumawall was able to offer additional savings because his is a local company. “We staged everything here as we needed to,” he said, noting Alumawall was on site for 10-12 weeks, wrapping up at the end of 2014.