VCU Health Adult Outpatient Pavilion Parking Garage

As one of the tallest buildings in the campus area and a gateway building for the VCU Health campus, the over one million total sq ft outpatient facility is highly visible within the Richmond skyline, making satin gold Fabricoil® architectural mesh from Cascade Architectural the only choice of material for the project team at HDR Inc. Over 40,000 sq ft of this beautiful 3/8" 14-gauge stainless steel coiled wire fabric was used to veil the integrated parking structure inside the first 10 stories – chosen not just for its beauty, but the myriad functional and performance benefits that this unique building facade screening system offers.

Wrapping the parking floors with Fabricoil absolutely transforms the health system's flagship building into an iconic facade that is stands out among the busy Richmond skyline, enhancing the first impression for everyone entering, elevating the parking experience for visitors, patients, and staff, and quickly becoming an unmistakable reference point for wayfinding within the community – all top priorities for the design team who worked to create optimized clinical workflows and easy navigation for patients throughout the 19-story facility. Material, color, and artistic vision were the driving force behind this inspired design, but the performance benefits and cost savings are even more impressive.

Cascade's Stainless Steel Type 316 material was chosen for its highest level of corrosion resistance amongst all types of stainless steel, and the powder-coated satin gold finish beautifully compliments the VCU Health system's brand. With the material's coils running vertically, each floor's mesh panel was spliced seamlessly on-site for a continuous look that is near impossible to achieve with any alternative material, and the material's open weave design allowed for optimum ventilation and more than 50% open area throughout.

The attachment system selected ensures that the parking garage's architectural mesh screening system could act not just as a ventilated screening system, but as fall protection and added security for users. Attached directly to each floor slab, the exterior cladding system is supported in tension at the top and bottom only, ultimately requiring fewer structural connections than perforated metal panel or other rigid alternatives, and enabling the continuous aesthetic to take shape.

And while material cost is often evaluated as a standard line item in cost calculations for exterior cladding systems like this one, Fabricoil® coiled wire fabric and Cascade's pre-engineered attachment system proved once again to be the most cost-effective solution for wrapping the parking areas in metal mesh due to the speed and ease of installation along with fewer structural requirements. The impact to the overall project budget and schedule for an undertaking of this scale was a crucial part in the comprehensive evaluation of materials suited for this application (but yes, it's clear, that the absolutely stunning, on-brand, satin gold powder-coated finish certainly played a big role in the design team's material preference in selecting Fabricoil over other products, as well.