Highlands Plaza Three
Kingspan Benchmark, Morin Wrap State-of-the-Art St. Louis Medical Offices
Metallic panels from Kingspan Benchmark and Morin clad Highlands Plaza Three, a four-story, state-of-the-art medical office building located in St. Louis, MO. HP3 accounts for 86,000 square feet of the 26-acre mixed-use campus developed by Balke Brown Associates.
Located on I-64 in St. Louis, HP3 was at 100 percent occupancy two months prior to the completion of construction. The $10.8 million facility contains medical offices for Mid-America Transplant Services and Barnes Jewish Hospital. The Highlands development will ultimately include one million square feet of office space, loft-style apartments, a six-story hotel and new restaurant facility.
Project architect Gray Design Group, also located in St. Louis, specified brick, Morin single element panels and Kingspan Benchmark insulated panels for HP3, each providing roughly one-third of the building envelope. Morin contributed 12,000 square feet of Integrity Series 22-gauge panels, X-12 and XC-12, while Kingspan Benchmark customized 8,000 square feet of two-inch thick insulated foam panels for the facility.
Gray Design Principal and LEED AP Toby Heddinghaus explains, “A successful installation hinged on the substrate that the panels were attached to, so tolerances in steel and back-up framing were reduced to nearly zero.” Selecting Morin and Benchmark panels facilitated the installation process as well as the aesthetically-pleasing end result.
The single element and insulated panels both allow for design flexibility, which was particularly appealing to Gray Design. The panels were selected to achieve the desired color and texture, which cannot be attained with pre-cast or tilt-up. Coated in Champaign Pearl and Bronze, the panels create a distinctive yet complementary aesthetic for the campus building.
“Because we used a metallic finish, we particularly like the way the structure responds to the daylight conditions around it,” Heddinghaus remarks about the eye-catching exterior. “Simply put, the building looks great.”
Along with Gray Design Group, the project team included general contractor S.M. Wilson & Co. and metal panel installer Lackey Sheet Metal, both based in St. Louis. Highlands Plaza Three was ready for occupancy in May 2008.
About Kingspan Insulated Panels North America
Kingspan Insulated Panels North America is a global leader in the manufacturing of insulated metal panels. The company has five North American production locations: Deland, FL; Modesto, CA; Columbus, OH; Caledon, ON; and Langley, BC. Kingspan insulated panels are manufactured as a single component system with high R-value, unsurpassed airtightness and superior moisture control suitable for new and retrofit buildings. As the most energy-efficient, cost-effective building envelope solutions, insulated metal panels are at the forefront of sustainability. Kingspan insulated metal panels are a significant first step to achieving net-zero energy building and consistently contribute to U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED®) credits and overall certification. Kingspan Insulated Panels serves the architectural, commercial/industrial, cold storage and food processing markets, and is committed to delivering the most advanced building products on the market. Visit www.kingspanpanels.us and www.kingspanpanels.ca for more information.