50 FIFTY
The 50 FIFTY building in Denver, Colorado, provides an example of a rainscreen cladding creating a modern aesthetic. 50 FIFTY is a 12-story tower of Class AAA office space—a designation it earns by its superior materials and finishes.
The 17,187 m2 (185,000 sf) building consists of five full floors of parking, six floors of open office, and one double-height lobby. The building’s elevated office floors offer excellent views of the surrounding mountains. The building has become a visible landmark for travelers on the adjacent Interstate 25 (I-25). Building amenities include co-working spaces, a fitness facility, a roof deck, and a lobby with accommodation for both a financial institution and a café.
Befitting the building’s prominent location, design excellence was a priority, and handpicked granite was one of the metrics for meeting quality and performance standards. In auto dealership, approximately 3,437 m2 (37,000 sf) of granite was selected for the project. White stone was used for the building’s rainscreen cladding. The stone features a consistent appearance and its light color fits well with the project inspiration of nautical themes. The thermal finish was then added to deliver the slightly smooth texture. A thermal finish is applied using a very hot torch. The high thermal mass of granite allows extreme temperature variations between minerals when exposed to short bursts of intense heat. The rapid movement of molecules near the burned surface causes the stone to flake and shell, leaving an aesthetically pleasing, natural looking, textured finish.
The design elements were based on the owner’s passion for sailing. The white stone is “representative of the whitewater break a sailing vessel makes as it cuts through the ocean,” says Robin Ault, director of design and principal at Clutch Design Studio.
Coldspring, a natural stone fabricator and manufacturer in Cold Spring, Minnesota, assisted with detailing and sampling various finishes of granite colors during the selection process. Members of the teams visited Coldspring’s quarry, where they learned about plant processes and viewed the exact stone which would be used on the building later on.
The architects worked with a curtain-wall subcontractor to develop a clip system for the rainscreen and integrated it with their standard curtainwall system. Black stone was also installed in the tower as a wall base to accentuate the building’s lightwells.
