Metal panels create high-tech look for South Carolina school

by sadia_badhon | June 3, 2019 12:48 pm

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The Myrtle Beach Middle School in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, offers a vision of the future, in both its eye-catching design and award-winning performance. The school, like four others opened by the Horry County School District[2] (HCSD), is engineered to be net-energy positive, meaning they generate more energy than they use over the course of the year.

Designers mirrored top-tier energy performance in their plans for a dynamic façade, punctuated by sharp corner angles, punched-out window shading, and a dramatic entrance canopy. A bold color scheme created by broad expanses of metal panels emphasizes this architectural statement.

“We felt we were creating a state-of-the-art facility,” said Derrick Mozingo, AIA, design principal with the hometown firm of Mozingo + Wallace[3]. “We wanted to create cutting-edge architecture to emphasize the cutting-edge approach of the school. You do not go by these buildings without noticing them.”

Mozingo’s firm was a member of the design/build team that brought HCSD’s five new schools online in 18 months. FirstFloor Energy Positive[4] led the effort, with SFL+A[5] as design professionals of record and Stantec[6] doing interior design and programing work. Panel and roofing installer Spann Roofing[7] also was on board.

In total, Spann Roofing installed more than 9290 m² (100,000 sf) of 0.40-gauge aluminum wall panels across all five schools, with colors chosen to highlight each facility’s athletic team.

Mozingo said the wall panels supported both his budget and his aesthetic vision for the schools.

“It created a very affordable skin, and there was no other material out there that would create that look,” he said. “It gave us a surface that would weather well and gave us that architectural ‘tech’ look we were trying to achieve.”

Source URL: https://www.constructionspecifier.com/metal-panels-create-high-tech-look-for-south-carolina-school/

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