CENTRIA^®, leading innovator and manufacturer of the world’s most advanced building envelope wall and roof panels, is celebrating the excitement and intrigue of space exploration by naming the newly opened Gateway™: The Deep Space Launch Complex at Kennedy Space Center as its 2022 Building of the Year. 

“Space exploration captures the imagination and drives people to ask what is beyond the stars in the sky,” noted Tim Johnson, district sales manager, CENTRIA. “At CENTRIA, we were proud to have supplied cutting-edge building envelope solutions to construct this new complex at Kennedy Space Center. It is certain to become a preferred destination for children of all ages, and our metal wall panels are on prominent display as they walk into the building.”

A 50,000-square-foot attraction that has achieved LEED Silver certification, Gateway: The Deep Space Launch Complex celebrated its grand opening in June 2022. The visitor center offers guests the opportunity to experience the interstellar travel of tomorrow while celebrating everything happening right now within the space program. Through immersive education, atmospheric effects and a motion theater experience, guests see, hear, and feel what it is like to travel in space. 

The complex’s coastal Florida location meant the exterior walls needed to withstand constant exposure to ocean air and endure hurricane-strength winds. Architects specified more than 85,000 square feet of CENTRIA panels for the building envelope. Nearly half of the exterior is comprised of CENTRIA Intercept Entyre, a modular metal wall panel that offers smooth planes and clean sight lines. CENTRIA provided a combination of Silversmith and a custom Kolorshift chameleon color to transition from a deep purple to a light green as visitors walk around the building’s curves. The color scheme evokes images of space travel and the night sky.   

Crews installed Intercept Entyre over CENTRIA’s MetalWrap, an insulated composite backup panel system that serves as the ultimate backup wall for nearly any type of exterior rainscreen system. Designed with CENTRIA's innovative advanced thermal and moisture protection (ATMP) technology, MetalWrap consists of two steel skins that are permanently bonded to a poured-in-place foam insulating core. 

The other half of the building envelope was comprised of Versawall 2 3/4-inch panels in Gray Velvet. Crews installed Versawall on areas of the complex that were not as public facing to provide high performance and aesthetics without the custom coloring.

BRPH served as the principal architect on Gateway. CENTRIA’s dealer on the project was FIVE-T-CO, and the general contractor was Ivey’s Construction. 

Chosen each year following a survey of CENTRIA’s dealers and partners, the Building of the Year program honors the innovative work and collaboration amongst architects and other construction professionals to bring compelling, smartly designed, energy-efficient buildings to life for the betterment of the community. As the winner, Gateway: The Deep Space Launch Complex will adorn the cover of a commemorative book developed by CENTRIA to be distributed to dealers, partners, and CENTRIA teammates in 2023.