Award Description

The glass and glazing on the Steelcase Learning Center is quite eye catching.
An existing building which was once utilized for manufacturing was redesigned to accommodate a center for design, development and showcasing products. Progressive AE’s design ‘opened up’ expansive walls of the building skin replacing steel siding materials with slab to ceiling glass and curtainwall system. Over 20,000 square feet of insulated glass and ‘clear’ anodized aluminum was constructed creating a wall of natural light to the East and West elevations. The Kawneer curtainwall system was pre-fabricated and prepped off site and was shipped in ‘ladder-form’ direct to the jobsite which allowed swift installation. New aluminum entrances with custom hardware and automatic operators for handicap access were added. The new glass curtainwall vestibule entries were incorporated with ‘aluminum panel’ construction with the East entry utilizing a covered canopy with ‘translucent panel system’ by ‘Skywall’ installed by Vos Glass.
Project challenges included the installation of large aluminum panel soffit construction with eye brow sunshade feature. The selection of ‘non-vision obscure’ insulating glass with specification requirements demanding high levels of natural light transmission, along with favorable u-value performance characteristics, and pre-ordering glass and framing with the coordination of rebuilding openings and existing building conditions.
The façade project adjacent to the Steelcase Corporate Headquarters now successfully improves the Steelcase Learning Center’s ‘building image’ as well as continuing to add useable valuable space into an mature building.