An emerging trend in Denver, and across the country, involves retrofitting older office buildings to make them more marketable to tenants, as well as more energy efficient and sustainable. One example transformed the Larimer Corporate Plaza, a 205,000-sf office building located in downtown Denverās financial district. The project involved redesigning and reconstructing the eight-story buildingās faƧade and remodeling all the common areas, along with making extensive upgrades to the buildingās mechanical systems.Ā
The Building Team of 17th & Larimer LLC (owner), Klipp Architects, and J.E. Dunn Construction (general contractor) selected Centria's Formawall Dimension Series to help achieve the retrofit project's goals of improved aesthetics, sustainability, and energy efficiency. āThe goal was to give a facelift to a 1970s-style building,ā said David Villella, Metal Walls Manager at A-1 Glass Inc., a Centria dealer/installer. āThe addition of the Centria panels, along with new color and how these both complemented the glass on the structure, brought this building into the 21st century.ā
The Building Team used 12,850 sf of the Formawall system on the facade, resulting in a fresh, welcoming, and modern aesthetic. Formawall is the only wall system that provides Centria's patented advanced thermal and moisture protection (ATMP) in a single panelized component. Compared to traditional multi-component wall construction, the Formawall Dimension Series is manufactured as one component.
āThe existing precast faƧade was to remain, so the design team needed a new faƧade that was lightweight, so as not to exceed the capacity of the existing structure,ā added Villella. Ā āMetal was the perfect choice because of its design flexibility and light weight.ā +
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