Colors & Curves in Construction

The Building Materials at the Altgeld Gardens Construction Site, Chicago

Here is something different in a post; rather then just showing the finished product, I present some interesting in-progress construction shots. This is the Altgeld Family Resource Center, a Library, Childcare Facility and Community Center, during construction. This unique building with its curving façades, fanciful spatial volumes, and the wide range of colors of many of the materials offers a unique perspective on the construction process. Many of these building materials end up hidden from sight as the building is completed; but getting glimpse of them, before they are covered-up, is a lot of fun.

The construction consists of a steel frame with a serpentine skin composed of red-wine colored brick veneer. Over 80 white framed windows of different sizes, arranged in random patterns, run along the façade and flood the interior with natural light. There are also some limited areas of bright blue metal panels and whimsical metal roof elements that highlight key spaces and create dramatic interior volumes. The project boasts an array of building materials that form a delightful tapestry of colors and shapes – some of these we only get a glimpse of before they are covered up by other materials and some are the finished product and will always be visible. Some examples that you can see in the pictures:

Red primer on the curving steel that forms the structural shell of the building.
Orange underfloor of radiant heating panels.
Green sheathing/insulation board that forms the exterior wall but will soon be covered by the brick.
Tropical blue-green coating the covers the sheathing board and forms a water tight seal.
Sky-blue metal panels found on the roof and in the community courtyard.
The colorful children’s play structures in the childcare courtyard.

There has been a trend toward colorful building materials, most of which are only seen during construction and then covered over forever. This is especially true for exterior sheathings, waterproof coatings, and insulations. A great deal of this might be chalked-up to marketing but whatever the reason, these products can make the mundane construction site a little more interesting. Who makes these colorful materials:

Green Sheathing Board: USG Securock Ultralight Glass-Mat Sheathing
Orange Radiant Heating Panels: BASF Creatherm Radiant Floor Panels
Red Paint on Steel: Fabricator’s Standard Red-Oxide Primer
Blue Metal Panel: Peterson Aluminum / Sherwin-Williams custom color ‘Dynamic Blue’
Yellow Upholstered Seating: Samelson-Chatelane ‘Vibe Green Tea 52’ and ‘CRI 1700 Citron’
Orange Playground Railings: NuToys, Tangerine
Green Playground Structure: NuToys, Leaf
Brick: Beldon Brick, Brandywine Velour
Green Paint: Benjamin Moore, Snow Cone Green
Green Restroom Tile: Dal-Tile, Natural Hues QH30 Kiwi.
Treated Plywood Deck: Pyro-Guard, Treated Southern Yellow Pine
Tan Blown-In Insulation: Preferred Solutions, Staycell 302
Tropical Blue-Green Weather Barrier: GCP (Grace) Perm-A-Barrier VPL
White Window Frames: Wausau Window and Wall Systems, Linetec Super White 2-coat in-house blend.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoyed this tour.

Role

Project Manager from conception through the completion of construction. Led the in-house and consultant project delivery effort and was the main contact with the Chicago Housing Authority, the Chicago Public Library, and the childcare provider.

Firm: KOO LLC

To see the completed project, Go Here. For information on other educational and related work (including childcare, schools and other civic projects), go to my Projects Page.