“Curb appeal” – the combination of aesthetic elements that attracts potential customers – is a common goal among retail establishments.
For Furniture Row Companies, it’s an aspiration that takes on unique significance, as each of the retailer’s furniture centers includes four distinct specialty stores: Sofa Mart, Oak Express, Bedroom Expressions and Denver Mattress Co.
“These buildings are our national image and they need to be unique,” says Larry Fore, who oversees corporate construction for Furniture Row Companies nationwide. “We want people to recognize the buildings immediately upon seeing them. That’s what it’s all about.”
At Furniture Row’s newest center in Charlotte, N.C., a custom steel building by Star Building Systems enabled the retailer to achieve the flexibility, distinctive branding and interior aesthetic environment that wasn’t feasible through conventional construction.
Constructing the 69,631-sf structure involved several challenging design elements, including a complex roof with clerestory windows and a series of complex hips and valleys.
“We strive for efficiency in our buildings and architecture, and these buildings can’t be constructed any other way efficiently,” Fore says. “They are more difficult to build than a typical metal building structure because of the multifaceted roof.”
The combination of materials on the exterior storefronts helps to shape the aesthetic distinctiveness and unique identity of each specialty store.
“We used stone, brick, some decorative metals and even a log structure on part of the building,” says John Tweedy, project manager at Intergroup Architects in Littleton, Colo. “It doesn’t look like your typical metal building.”
The standing seam metal roof provides strong, clean vertical lines, and a ribbon of windows along both sides of the building brings in considerable natural light.
Steel canopies highlight each store entrance, and full cathedral-ceiling dormers – two with clerestories – provide a commanding custom presence for each retail brand.
The interior space takes advantage of the vast spans accommodated by metal building systems, providing a connected interior environment that enables shoppers to discover and shop for merchandise at multiple “stores” within the structure efficiently.
Most of the interior steel is exposed, and the columns are painted various colors to blend with the surrounding areas. The exposed white insulation facing, white painted rafters and lighting contribute to a bright aesthetic appeal.
“There’s quite a bit of exterior and interior flexibility available with metal wall panels,” Tweedy says. “When you work with a retailer, you’ve got to be creative with how you design and put the pieces together because curb appeal is so important to them.”
Based in Denver, Furniture Row Companies operates 80 multi-store centers and 30 standalone stores in 31 states.
Building Team
Owner: Furniture Row USA, LLC, Denver
Star Builder: Furniture Row USA, Charlotte, N.C.
Architect: Intergroup Architects, Littleton, Colo.
General Contractor: Catamount Constructors, Inc., Denver
Erector: Five Starr Steel, LLC, New Caney, Texas
For more information on Star Building Systems, visit: http://www.starbuildings.com.
Related Stories
| May 10, 2011
Solar installations on multifamily rooftops aid social change
The Los Angeles Business Council's study on the feasibility of installing solar panels on the city’s multifamily buildings shows there's tremendous rooftop capacity, and that a significant portion of that rooftop capacity comes from buildings in economically depressed neighborhoods. Solar installations could therefore be used to create jobs, lower utility costs, and improve conditions for residents in these neighborhood.
| Apr 13, 2011
National Roofing Contractors Association revises R-value of polyisocyanurate (ISO) insulation
NRCA has updated their R-value recommendation for polyisocyanurate roof insulation with the publication of the 2011 The NRCA Roofing Manual: Membrane Roof Systems.
| Apr 13, 2011
Professor Edward Glaeser, PhD, on how cities are mankind’s greatest invention
Edward Glaeser, PhD, the Fred and Eleanor Glimp Professor of Economics at Harvard University and director of the Taubman Center for State and Local Government and the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston, as well as the author of Triumph of the City: How Our Greatest Invention Makes Us Richer, Smarter, Healthier, and Happier, on how cities are mankind’s greatest invention.
| Apr 13, 2011
Southern Illinois park pavilion earns LEED Platinum
Erin’s Pavilion, a welcome and visitors center at the 80-acre Edwin Watts Southwind Park in Springfield, Ill., earned LEED Platinum. The new 16,000-sf facility, a joint project between local firm Walton and Associates Architects and the sustainability consulting firm Vertegy, based in St. Louis, serves as a community center and special needs education center, and is named for Erin Elzea, who struggled with disabilities during her life.
| Apr 13, 2011
Office interaction was the critical element to Boston buildout
Margulies Perruzzi Architects, Boston, designed the new 11,460-sf offices for consultant Interaction Associates and its nonprofit sister organization, The Interaction Institute for Social Change, inside an old warehouse near Boston’s Seaport Center.
| Apr 13, 2011
Expanded Museum of the Moving Image provides a treat for the eyes
The expansion and renovation of the Museum of the Moving Image in the Astoria section of Queens, N.Y., involved a complete redesign of its first floor and the construction of a three-story 47,000-sf addition.
| Apr 13, 2011
Duke University parking garage driven to LEED certification
People parking their cars inside the new Research Drive garage at Duke University are making history—they’re utilizing the country’s first freestanding LEED-certified parking structure.
| Apr 12, 2011
Rutgers students offered choice of food and dining facilities
The Livingston Dining Commons at Rutgers University’s Livingston Campus in New Brunswick, N.J., was designed by Biber Partnership, Summit, N.J., to offer three different dining rooms that connect to a central servery.
| Apr 12, 2011
Long-awaited San Francisco center is music to jazz organization’s ears
After 28 years, SFJAZZ is getting its first permanent home. The San Francisco-based nonprofit, which is dedicated to advancing the art of jazz through concerts and educational programs, contracted local design firm Mark Cavagnero Associates and general contractor Hathaway Dinwiddie to create a modern performance center in the city’s Hayes Valley neighborhood
| Apr 12, 2011
Spray Foam Applications on the Rise
New uses for spray polyurethane foam enable Building Teams to achieve greater longevity and sustainability in their projects.
