Jet Ranch Main Hangar
Crimp-Curved Metal Roof Panels Are Signature Feature Of Jet Ranch's Main Hangar
Jet Ranch is a design-built, 82,400 square foot facility at the Carson City (Nevada) Airport. The multi-building complex features customized aircraft hangars available for lease and a main hangar that is privately held for use by the owner. In planning the 34,214 sq ft main hangar facility, the design team at Licata Hansen Associates Architecture of Reno, NV wanted to create a building that would stand apart visually from the leased hangar space and would also have the ability to house larger aircraft.
“We decided the building should have a distinctive shape that would reflect the aerodynamic concept of aircraft, so we designed the roof structure to mimic a wing form,” states Ric Licata, AIA, project architect and principal at Licata Hansen Associates. A segmented brace frame steel structure supports the concealed fastener roof panels, which are laid end-to-end over purlins to cover the large span of the building. The roof design uses straight panels starting from one eave and sloping upwards into a series of curved panels that reach a pronounced downward arch at the opposite eave. One corner of the building at the arched end also has a public entranceway topped with a piano-shaped curved panel canopy that further extends the aerodynamic theme of the design.
The 24-gauge steel roof panels were manufactured by American Buildings Company, Eufaula, AL, and custom-curved by Curveline, Inc. of Ontario, CA. The main hangar utilizes about 14,600 sq ft of American’s curved Standing Seam II panels. They were formed from 24-gauge steel and feature 3” standing seam ribs and a SmartKote Kynar® 500 cool roof paint finish. The panel color is Regal Blue. Curveline curved the trapezoidal seam panels in 10 different lengths up to 17’-2” into precise radii that varied from 18’ 3-5/16” to 59’ 4-1/2”.
For the piano-shaped entranceway canopy, the project team needed a panel with the capability to be double-curved into an “S” shape. The panel chosen was a Mega-Rib exposed fastener panel with 7.2” rib spacing, manufactured at McElroy Metal Inc.’s Adelanto, CA plant. Eleven 30’ 7-1/2”-long panels were concave- and convex-curved into two different radii and angles of curvature to form the uniquely shaped canopy cover. The panel finish and color were the same as the main roof section.
Curveline curved all panels to required specifications at its Ontario, California service center and shipped them to the job site for final installation. The company’s proprietary crimp-curving process increases the strength and rigidity of panels, allowing curved roofs to be erected with minimal framing. In addition, Curveline has the unique ability to shape panels into multiple-radius forms such as the S-curves required for the canopy section.
Licata says: “The building team worked closely in a collaborative effort with American Buildings and Curveline to achieve the desired effect. The result is a very dynamic design that really stands out in the complex. The impact is also strong from within the space, where the eye travels to the underside of the curved roof form.” Licata reports that curved curtainwall is used to accentuate the design theme inside the building, and a continuous catwalk underneath the curved roof connects the public entrance to a mezzanine used for offices and flight support services.
Valley Construction of Reno was the general contractor. Miles Construction, Carson City, provided the pre-engineered building and metal roof panels. Rollapart Buildings Inc., Fallon, NV, erected the building and handled the installation of the metal claddings and hangar doors. The Jet Ranch hangar facility opened in August 2009.
For more information on metal building systems and components from American Buildings, visit www.americanbuildings.com.
To learn more about McElroy Metal’s extensive lineup of metal roof and wall systems, visit www.mcelroymetal.com.
About Curveline
In 1985, Curveline brought a patented crimp-curving technology from Europe to the U.S. and established a panel-curving service center in Ontario, California. Since then, Curveline has offered maximum design flexibility due to curving technology which is not linked to a single product line. Using the Curveline profile list, architects and specifiers may source panels from manufacturers in 100+ factory locations and specify desired angle and radius of curvature, including simple, complex and multi-radius curves. To learn more, visit www.curveline.com.