Fall 2013
Educating Building Owners, Architects and Contractors
Home Run in
Birmingham
Regions Field’s
custom metal
facade is a
statement of
civic pride
Seismic Strength
Metal’s nimble resistance
to Earth-moving events
Brought to you by CENTRIA
4
At its core, the work of an architect boils
down to choices. In the design of a given
structure, an architect will face a dizzying number of choices, all of which must
be balanced against the others to create a
building that fits the needs of its owner and
the community. And in the past decade,
another requirement has been added to the
list: sustainability.
Julie Pawuk
To make the decisions necessary to design a truly sustainable structure, today’s architect has to understand
the options, technologies, and systems available to him or her. This
month marks the 12th annual Greenbuild International Conference
and Expo, hosted by the U.S. Green Building Council and held in
Philadelphia. Greenbuild is a place where designers can learn the latest
in technology and techniques and also browse cutting-edge products
and solutions that can help them in their designs.
At this year’s Greenbuild, CENTRIA will be showcasing its
MetalWrap™ Series of panels. More than an insulated composite panel,
it is a backup panel that provides a high level of thermal performance
and minimizes moisture and air penetration for any type of exterior
rainscreen wall. MetalWrap is an example of a single-source solution
that helps reduce the number of decisions the architect must make. Because it is an integrated composite panel design, it eliminates the work
of separately designing and specifying parts and pieces for insulation,
vapor barrier and drain plane.
Another product CENTRIA will feature is the Smart-R™ Wall
Solution. The product takes a systems approach to high-performance
architectural cladding, minimizing material usage and jobsite scrap
while providing advanced thermal and moisture protection (ATMP®).
The innovative system combines CENTRIA’s Formawall insulated
metal panels with Formavue™ windows and other integrated options.
Choice is good. It’s something we all appreciate and welcome. But
when facing the number of choices inherent in a building design, it
can be helpful to wrap a few choices up in one reliable solution provider: CENTRIA. Be sure to visit CENTRIA at booth 3329 at this year’s
Greenbuild and learn more about MetalWrap, the Smart-R Wall Solution, and other products that can help your design process. The more
you know, the better your choices will be.
2 Spelling Success
Birmingham’s Regions Field is a statement of civic pride.
By Drew Hardman
4 Quake, Rattle and Roll
When designing for seismic forces, architects must find the right
mix of material and strategy to create structures that will stand
up to earth-shaking events.
By Henry Burke
6 Made for the Shade
Integrated architectural wall systems provide designers with
a fully engineered, turnkey solution.
By Henry Burke
8 Trending Toward EPDs
CENTRIA will release its first environmental product declaration.
By Drew Hardman
9 Data Drive
The metal construction industry digs deep into life cycle assessment
to paint a clearer picture of environmental performance.
Brought to you by
Freedom of Choice
For more information on CENTRIA, visit
www.CENTRIAperformance.com/metalmag.
Executive Editor
Julie Pawuk
Editorial Director
Drew Hardman
Design Director
LTD Creative
Publisher
Rick Brow
Contributing Editors
Henry Burke
Jeffrey Lee
Client Services
Simon Hyoun
Felicia Williams
On the cover: Regions Field, Birmingham, Ala. | HKS Architects and Hoskins Architecture
Above: Loma Linda University Medical Center, Murrieta, Calif. | Davis Stokes Collaborative, P.C.
product spotlight
ECMC Regional Center of Excellence for Transplantation & Kidney Care, Buffalo, N.Y.
CENTRIA’s Smart-R Wall Solution
Pushing the Building Envelope
CENTRIA’s Smart-R Wall Solution offers a new level of integration.
TM
Today’s evolving metal wall panel industry calls
for a new, smarter wall, offering not only the
best in performance and value, but advanced
integration capabilities to meet the architect’s
growing sustainability and aesthetic demands.
Incorporating integrated wall panels, windows,
joinery, louvers, and sunshades, the Smart-R
Wall Solution is one of the highest-performance
building envelope systems on the market today.
The Smart-R Wall Solution starts with
CENTRIA’s Formawall® Dimension Series® insulated metal panels. With a factory foamed-inplace core, pressure-equalized horizontal joinery, and the optional PE Seal Plate, Formawall
panels provide the best in advanced thermal and
moisture protection (ATMP®). Compared with
traditional stud insulated wall construction —
requiring multiple installations and up to five
separate components — Formawall is a single
panelized component, available in a wide range
of lengths, thicknesses, reveals and profiles.
The latest advancements in the Formawall
Dimension Series product line include the 2.5"
and 3"-T panels combined with the new insulated metal vertical (IMV) joint option, providing a four-sided metal joint, added aesthetic
appeal and additional insulation at the vertical
joint. The panels are specifically engineered to
integrate with CENTRIA’s innovative Formavue FV-600 and FV-650 window systems.
The shop-assembled Formavue windows
reduce the risk of air and water infiltration
by simplifying the installation process, which
can also reduce overall construction time.
The product’s integrated components lead to
exceptional overall thermal and moisture performance. One of the most effective ways to
reduce heat loss is to optimize wall system interface features such as panel joints, extrusions,
and windows, locations that typically allow a
greater percentage of heat flow or moisture intrusion. The Smart-R Wall Solution capitalizes
on this optimization.
The Smart-R Wall Solution also integrates
with C/S Sunshades and C/S Louvers, designed
by Construction Specialties, Inc., to integrate
TM
seamlessly with CENTRIA’s Formawall panels
and Formavue windows.
Integrated wall systems benefit more than
the bottom line. Integrated components reduce
the amount of materials used by eliminating
extraneous parts such as receptors or exposed
sealants, while factory-assembled components eliminate jobsite scrap. Moreover, highperformance wall systems can drastically reduce HVAC costs and overall environmental
impact, making the Smart-R Wall Solution the
sustainable choice.
Combining a steel face and liner and closedcell foam insulation, Formawall products are
strong but lightweight, weighing considerably
less than comparable precast, clay brick, or other building materials. The manageable weight
reduces structural support requirements and
minimizes energy consumption.
For more information on the
Smart-R Wall Solution, visit
www.CENTRIAperformance.com.
Metalmag | Fall 2013
1
cover STORY
Spelling
Success
Birmingham’s Regions Field
is a statement of civic pride.
By Drew Hardman
The People
Architects: HKS Architects, Inc. | Dallas, Texas
Hoskins Architecture | Birmingham, Ala.
General Contractor: Robins & Morton | Birmingham, Ala.
Dealer/Installer: FLC Systems | Fulton, Miss.
CENTRIA Products
EcoScreen® Perforated Screenwall; 1,313 sq. ft.; Dove Gray;
Fluorofinish®
Exposed Fastener Panel MR3-36; 23,715 sq. ft.; Dove Gray;
Fluorofinish
Econolap; 22,235 sq. ft.; Dove Gray and Slate Gray; Fluorofinish
TR4-36; 7,238 sq. ft.; Dove Gray; Fluorofinish
Regions Field
Birmingham, Ala.
8,500 seats
Total Building Square Footage: 245,000
2
Fall 2013 | Metalmag
From the front office to the dugout, members of the Birmingham Barons
Double-A baseball club will tell you their 2013 Southern League Championship title was the result of a total team effort. The same is true for the
dedicated professionals behind the club’s new, award-winning ballpark,
Regions Field.
The aesthetic focal point of the new ballpark is the city’s name, cut in
towering letters with a unique, inside-out effect. The bold design, known
as the “Birmingham facade,” is quickly becoming one of the iconic images of the city after only one season, albeit a memorable one. The Barons
christened their new stadium on opening day in April, following just 14
months of construction.
Project designer Kevin Suter, LEED AP, with Dallas-based HKS Architects, decided early on in the design process to make a statement along
the western facade, positioned just a few blocks from an elevated highway.
“We thought it was a perfect place to make a statement of civic pride —
to announce the city and to encourage people to come back,” Suter says.
The city of Birmingham imposes strict ordinances and size restrictions
on signage, based on the retail developments that dominate the area. But
Suter and his team from HKS presented the Birmingham letters as a facade element all along, stressing the importance of controlling the amount
of daylight that enters the western facade. Suter specified CENTRIA’s
EcoScreen® perforated screenwall to limit the area’s exposure to sunlight.
“One of our original objectives was to knock down the sun on that west
wall,” Suter explains. “Behind that area is an open-air concourse that is
certainly a functional part of the ballpark.”
EcoScreen also created an unexpected aesthetic effect, drawing nothing
but positive feedback from the Birmingham fan base.
“It ended up creating a really nice effect with the transition from day
to night,” Suter says. “Where the facade looks solid and flush in the day, it
lights up nicely and glows in the evening.”
The Birmingham facade is the result of a cumulative effort from all parties involved, beginning with CENTRIA’s experienced team of engineers,
project managers and plant personnel, who tailored a brand-new design to
fit the complex specifications. Chad Martin, division manager of installer
FLC Systems, originally planned to outsource the task of letter cutting before he had the opportunity to tour CENTRIA’s Frankfort, Ky., plant in late
2012 to review the company’s manufacturing capabilities.
As senior project manager Rick Miskanic explains, the approval process
included a trip to the jobsite to review shop drawings, just one of many services offered by the CENTRIA Building Envelope Solutions (CBES) team.
Koska and Miskanic used their field construction knowledge and the resources of CENTRIA’s Design & Development group to work around a span
issue, committing to a complete product shipment by March 18, which left
FLC Systems adequate time to install the panels before opening day.
“CENTRIA was able to step up and produce the letters within our time
frame,” Suter says.
Frankfort plant manager Gary Brunette and his team were charged with
applying the facility’s cutting technology to the complicated Birmingham
signage — a first for the plant. Brunette reported no issues throughout the
cutting process, thanks in part to CENTRIA’s intricate detailing.
“The most interesting thing about it was obviously the upper panels
were cut to the outside parameters, while the lower panels were cut to the
inside parameters, which gives it the effect that the architect was looking
for,” Brunette says. “We created the panels one at a time, moving right
down the line starting with the ‘B’ in Birmingham. We shipped them out in
ten crates — one for each letter.”
The Frankfort plant created mark numbers for each panel, providing a
detailed installation sequence and instructions for the FLC Systems team.
“That’s something that would usually be reserved for an insulated
panel — never before for single-skin panels,” Brunette explains.
Not only were the panels fabricated at a record pace, they were also
installed at the jobsite without a hitch, according to Martin. A veteran
installer of CENTRIA’s single-skin metal panels, Martin labels Regions
Field as one of his “all-time favorite projects,” noting the build team’s ability
to produce a stunning project under tight time constraints.
“The letter cutting was exceptional,” Martin says. “I think we provided a
very unique look for this stadium, and I am guessing that this will be copied again very soon. It gives me a great sense of pride knowing I was part of
such an innovative use of CENTRIA products.”
Besides the celebrated Birmingham facade, other design goals for Regions Field revolved around the city’s industrial heritage “as the manufacturing center of the South,” Suter says. Reflecting the design of some of the
historical brick, ironwork, and steel buildings in the area, Suter showcased
CENTRIA’s metal panels, creating a familiar form with all the modern
amenities of a state-of-the-art ballpark. All told, Regions Field utilizes over
Dealer Spotlight
FLC Systems provides a single-source solution for the exterior
skin of your building, offering turnkey services to contractors,
architects, and building owners. FLC Systems specializes in
exterior metal panel systems, complete with framing, sheathing,
and vapor barriers.
Licensed to operate in over 40 states, FLC Systems deals
directly with manufacturers like CENTRIA, leaving out the
middle man, and installs their products with its own experienced
employees. FLC Systems is a division of F.L. Crane & Sons, Inc.,
with more than 60 years of construction experience. In addition
to its headquarters in Fulton, Miss., F.L. Crane & Sons operates
multiple locations and divisions, including its newest additions,
FLC Imports and FLC Industrial Services.
“Our philosophy is that with proper management, any
new business opened will be an asset to our employees, the
surrounding community, and us,” President Mike Heering said.
“Our core beliefs are honesty, teamwork, and quality, as well
as to maintain a work environment that inspires and empowers
people to perform to their full potential.”
F.L. Crane & Sons will soon celebrate its ninth anniversary as
a CENTRIA product partner and supplier. For more information
on FLC Systems or its parent company F.L. Crane & Sons, visit
flcrane.com.
50,000 square feet of CENTRIA single-skin metal panels, encompassing a
large portion of the ballpark’s mixed-medium exterior.
The Birmingham Barons capped off the inaugural season in their
new ballpark with a championship, just a month after Regions Field was
crowned Ballpark of the Year by BaseballParks.com.
For more information and an in-depth look at
Regions Field, stream the project video at
CENTRIAperformance.com/regionsfield.
Metalmag | Fall 2013
3
SEISMIC DESIGN
Designed by Davis Stokes Collaborative,
P.C., the Loma Linda University Medical
Center relies on CENTRIA’s Formawall®
Dimension Series® system in the nation’s
most seismically active region: California.
Quake, Rattle and Roll
Metal provides a mix of
strength, lightness and
flexibility for seismic design.
By Henry Burke
Designing a building to resist the elements is always a difficult challenge. But
whereas designing against factors like wind, weather, and fire often means creating barriers to resist damage, seismic design is about something else entirely:
flexibility. It requires strength combined with just the right freedom of movement. If a building is too rigid, it will crumble and shatter in an earthquake; too
flexible, and it will come apart. When designing for seismic forces, architects
must find the right mix of material and strategy to create structures that will
stand up to earth-shaking events.
“The primary goal in seismic design is public safety,” explains John E.
Pflugh, P.E., structural engineer in the Design and Development Department
at Moon Township, Pa.–based CENTRIA and a licensed professional engineer
in 12 states. “During an earthquake event, a building’s structure is subjected to
dynamic lateral loads and movements that must be resisted or accommodated
by the building and building cladding. All buildings are designed to prevent
catastrophic failure and the building cladding is designed to remain attached
to the building.”
If a building is clad with panels, the design should accommodate seismic
movement without damaging those panels, says Keith Boyer, director, Architectural Wall Technology with CENTRIA. “The panel design has to allow for
enough movement while being able to maintain the seals. And sometimes we
get specifications that, after the movement occurs, you still have to show air
and weather tightness in the system. The sum of the testing we get involved
with for projects, especially in seismic zones, can be quite involved.”
California State University, Stanislaus
Turlock, Calif.
Perkins+Will
4
Fall 2013 | Metalmag
Keeping It Light
When talking about seismic zones, many of us immediately think of
California. However, buildings are designed for seismic accommodation
anywhere there is a probability of an earthquake, especially in states such
as Oregon, Washington, Tennessee, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, South Carolina, Alaska, and Hawaii.
When designing for seismic forces, light and nimble tends to be better than heavy and massive, so the elements used in the building are
important. “Building materials play an important role in seismic design,”
Pflugh explains. “During a seismic event, the building sways back and
forth in response to ground motion. Depending on the weight of the
cladding material, the inertia forces associated with the sway will vary.
For example, a concrete panel with a weight of 100 pounds per square
foot will create inertial forces 25 times greater than a metal panel system
that weighs four pounds per square foot. Since these inertial forces must
be resisted by the main steel building structure, the design of the building using metal panels would result in a lower steel structure cost.”
“Metal panels are much less rigid than precast or brick, so I would say
there are definite advantages for seismic,” Boyer says. “Also, the more
mass you have, the more forces you develop when movement occurs in
the building. Having less mass helps.”
Being less rigid also helps. “Metal panel systems are flexible by nature
and can usually accommodate building sway or racking by simply flexing,” Pflugh says. “Architectural foam panels have a distinct advantage
for use in seismic areas. Since the panels have a tongue-and-groove design and are attached only on one side, the panels can easily slide back
and forth on each other without causing too much stress or damage.”
Keeps on Ticking
Good seismic design must do more than simply prevent building failure
or severe damage. It should also allow the building to continue to operate
immediately following an earthquake. CENTRIA conducts exhaustive
testing of its insulated metal panels to ensure they can endure the movement of an earthquake and function properly afterward. “We conducted
ASTM E283 air leakage testing and ASTM E331 water penetration testing on an architectural foam panel wall,” Pflugh recalls. “We then racked
the wall back and forth to simulate a seismic event and then retested it
again for air leakage and water penetration. The air infiltration test results
were actually better after the racking.”
When designing for seismic events, engineers and architects are bound
to state building codes, as well as the International Building Code and
ASCE 7: Minimum Design Loads for Buildings and Other Structures
from the Reston, Va.–based American Society of Civil Engineers. Metal
panels are covered in the components and cladding sections of the codes.
“There are no industry-wide testing protocols for metal panels specific
to seismic,” Pflugh says. “AAMA 501.4 and AMA 501.6 are seismic test
protocols, but they are intended for glass curtain walls. Metal panels are
tested per ASTM E72, ASTM E330 and ASTM E1592. From these tests,
the structural capacity of the panels is established. These values are then
used to design for the inertia loads experienced in a seismic event. We
have done project-specific racking tests to simulate seismic events. These
tests are generally done in conjunction with air infiltration and water penetration testing.”
While the basic concepts of seismic design have remained constant,
techniques, products and codes are always improving. “There is a lot happening on the code and product sides,” Pflugh says. “ASCE 7-10 devoted
nearly 40 percent more pages to seismic design than ASCE 7-05. And on
the product side, there has been a great deal of innovation.”
“For seismic, systems need to accommodate movement without binding or causing damage to the fastener or the product itself,” Boyer says.
“It’s really that simple. The joinery design CENTRIA has for its metalfaced insulated composite panels is very accommodating to building
movement. It allows the product to slide and accommodate large racking movements. There have also been some new things. A company
CENTRIA works with, Construction Specialties, has expansion joint materials and designs that have good aesthetics and can allow movement to
occur without causing damage while maintaining the seals.”
Earthquakes happen, and there is no way to be immune to their impact. However, smart, well-tested system designs can make the difference
between minimal and catastrophic damage.
Henry Burke lives in Chicago, where he writes about architecture and
construction.
The new Foster City, Calif., Elementary School, designed
by WLC Architects, features metal panels in the form
of Concept Series®, Formawall® Dimension
Series®, and MetalWrapTM insulated
composite backup panels.
Metalmag | Fall 2013
5
system design
ABOVE LEFT:
South Shore Bone and Joint Center
Hingham, Mass.
Cannon Design
ABOVE RIGHT:
Tacoma Public Utilities
Administration Bldg.
Tacoma, Wash.
BCRA Architects
BELOW:
Parkway Central High School
Science Lab Addition
Chesterfield, Mo.
Parsons Brinckerhoff
Made for the
Shade
Integrated architectural wall systems
provide designers with a turnkey solution.
By Henry Burke
Designers increasingly see buildings as being made up of numerous interconnected systems, rather
than individual components. Architects are always on the lookout for material synergies and ways to
simplify how different parts and pieces of a structure work together.
In some cases, simple adaptations on the product side can make worlds of difference toward creating
these synergies. It was this goal — developing integrated, turnkey systems to ease the work of architects
— that brought together the product design teams at Moon Township, Pa.–based CENTRIA and Cranford, N.J.–based Construction Specialties (C/S). CENTRIA is a manufacturer of metal wall systems,
and C/S produces louvers, grilles, sunshades and architectural screenwalls. By working together, they
can offer designers a fully engineered, integrated facade.
“Like CENTRIA, C/S is a market leader in architectural building products,” says Eric Sposito, key accounts manager with C/S. “We have a complete line of louvers and sunshades that completely integrate
with CENTRIA’s foam panel system (Formawall® Dimension Series®). They have common joinery, they
have systems that have been tested together, and they maintain all of the panel sight lines and joints of
CENTRIA’s Formawall Dimension Series. It’s unique in that it is a fully tested system.”
6
Fall 2013 | Metalmag
The partnership between CENTRIA and C/S makes the most of the
design and manufacturing expertise of both companies. The two entities have worked together to ensure a seamless, single-source system
for designers and contractors. The integrated line of metal wall systems with louver ventilation and solar shading was designed to be plug
and play, but it also offers myriad options. A complete line of performance louvers and sunshades and the full range of CENTRIA finishes
and colors are available. “The systems are designed to work together,”
Sposito explains. “[C/S louvers and sunshades] utilize CENTRIA’s support system and can be painted the same colors. CENTRIA’s colors are
standard to us.”
Integration
A good deal of design and planning takes place behind the scenes of this
partnership to ensure the products work together as they should. “Our
R&D and D&D departments got together and developed these custom
extrusions and custom pieces that would fit between our components, and
that obviously takes a bit of work,” Sposito says. “C/S has a key accounts
department that is dedicated to serving CENTRIA and its dealers and to
designing new products. We are constantly working together to improve
our products and come out with new ones. The key accounts department
handles all products and projects related to CENTRIA and its dealers. This
includes projects in the early design stage, through bidding, order, shipment, and installation of materials. C/S has dedicated project managers
who see the project and material throughout the lifetime of the order.”
While C/S’s collaboration with CENTRIA began with integrating their
products with the Formawall Dimension series, it did not stop there. “Recently we’ve taken it to another level and outside of standard louver and
sunshade integration with the Dimension Series,” Sposito says. “We’ve
integrated CENTRIA’s insulated backup metal panel, the MetalWrapTM
Series, and have come out with a line of what we call the MetalWrap
Louvers. We put a louver blade on top of the MetalWrap at inactive areas.
The system incorporates a combination of active and inactive louver areas with the MetalWrap system. Visually one cannot distinguish between
active and inactive [MetalWrap] areas. The system is designed for large
areas where the louvers are more than a performance requirement, they
are an architectural feature.”
Options for non-insulated panels are now available, as well. “We also
just developed a Bold Line louver that integrates with CENTRIA’s SuperRib panel, so we are expanding outside the insulated panels and now can
integrate with some of the non-insulated panels,” Sposito says. “It’s great
for architects who want to make a bold statement with our louvers. It’s a
mix of bold and shallow blades to match the Super Rib panel.” The combination delivers an architectural feature with high performance.
In contrast, simply specifying unrelated and non-integrated wall systems, louvers and sunshades can have some challenges. “C/S has the
custom extrusions that have the common joinery with the CENTRIA
panels, but if you didn’t have that, you would have to flash the opening
and install them as separate components, possibly by different trades,”
Sposito says. “They would not install into each other. Both components
would have to be field modified in order to fit into the building. And
on the coordination and submittal side, there would be no coordination
between the two trades, so it would fall onto the installer to make it work
in the field.”
Ultimately, the philosophy behind the partnership between C/S and
CENTRIA centers on the idea that taking a little time up front to make
these components cooperate flawlessly saves an enormous amount of design and installation time later. With countless complexities to deal with
in a given building design, taking the guesswork out of the equation on a
system like this can be extremely valuable. The fact that the components
have even been tested together is yet one less thing to think about.
“The collaboration never ends,” Sposito says. “We are constantly
tweaking and making adjustments. Both companies are always bringing new products to the market and, as we’re individually coming out
with these new products, we are looking for ways to
make them work together. From there, we can make
the new products work together in a way that no
one else has. We want to make it an easy thing for
the designer to spec one complete, tested wall
system. In one specification, you draw it all together and then you don’t have to worry about
different trades or inferior products. The materials come out just like you want them and
there are no surprises at any stage of the
building process.”
Henry Burke lives in Chicago, where he
writes about architecture and
construction.
Installation
Designing systems like these to work together seamlessly pays dividends
on the installation side, as well. Simpler installation means savings in
time and, therefore, money.
“In the traditional integration with our louvers and sunshades, the
louvers install just like a metal panel system, so for CENTRIA installers, it’s extremely easy,” Sposito explains. “They don’t have to flash the
opening, which can be extremely labor-intensive and messy. This is an
extremely clean install.”
Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center
Houma, La.
Chenevert Architects LLC
Metalmag | Fall 2013
7
life cycle
Trending Toward EPDs
CENTRIA will release the company’s first
environmental product declaration.
CENTRIA will release its first environmental
product declaration (EPD) in early 2014, continuing the industry’s trend toward transparency
in green construction and, ultimately, furthering
sustainability efforts for years to come.
Functioning as a companion piece to a company’s life cycle assessment (LCA), an EPD is
a certified document that presents the overall
findings of an assessment, while classifying
product and evaluation type, which is an important distinction when making product-to-product comparisons.
“Compared to a life cycle assessment, which
can be hundreds of pages long and sometimes
difficult to comprehend, the EPD is a more
user-friendly tool to review findings,” notes
Carla Porterfield, CENTRIA Environmental
Consultant. “It makes it easier for a company to
communicate life cycle assessment results.”
CENTRIA’s inaugural series of EPDs arrives
on the heels of a new product category rule
(PCR) document addressing insulated metal
panels, metal composite panels, and metal
cladding. Offered by the Metal Construction
Association, the document’s purpose is to determine the product-specific rules necessary for
the development of EPDs and the calculation of
LCAs within the three product groups.
In addition, the Metal Construction
Association announced plans last spring to
The University of North Florida’s LEED Gold Student
Wellness Complex features CENTRIA’s Formawall®
Dimension Series® and GraphixTM Series,
spotlighted in the company’s upcoming
environmental product declaration.
8
Fall 2013 | Metalmag
develop a generic insulated metal panel EPD.
Unlike a competitive analysis, the new EPD
will serve as an industrywide tool by combining information from leading manufacturers like CENTRIA.
Slated to be released in early 2014, CENTRIA’s product-specific EPDs will review each
of the company’s foam products, including
Formawall®, MetalWrap Series, Versawall®
and Versapanel®. The EPDs will be certified by
UL Environment, a company that specializes
in supporting the growth and development of
environmentally friendly products, services and
organizations.
TM
CENTRIA’s new foam panel EPDs will present findings from the company’s new LCA,
fully compliant with the requirements of ISO
14040 and ISO 14044 standards. Updates for the
EPD are scheduled for every five years, leaving
room for continuous process improvements, according to Porterfield.
EPDs serve as an excellent product comparison tool for the consumer — in this case,
architects and contractors shopping for the
most-sustainable, high-performance products.
EPDs and LCAs are also recognized by the new
LEED® v4 certification, creating the potential
for credits.
But the true advantage of EPDs is the longterm positive effect on the industry.
“What’s even more important than the numbers or the findings is a general shift towards
transparency in the environmental discussion
and the potential for more process improvements,” Porterfield says. “Right now, the push
is to conduct these types of analyses on a regular basis to learn what a company can improve
and how to make their product perform at the
highest level.”
Data Drive
The metal construction industry digs deep
into life cycle assessment to paint a clearer
picture of environmental performance.
Life cycle assessment, better known as LCA, is a tool for architects to discover the full environmental
impact of the components and systems they specify.
LCA encompasses literally everything that goes into a product, including mining, manufacturing,
assembly, and even transportation. Getting one’s arms around this dizzying amount of data can be an
overwhelming task, but it is one that the metal construction industry dove into in 2008. Led by a task
group at the Chicago-based Metal Construction Association (MCA) and working with LCA consulting
firm PE International (originally known as Five Winds Strategic Consulting), the industry took a deep
look at its processes and materials and released a comprehensive report in late 2012.
The report is packed with data, but that data still needs to be processed and framed in a way that is
understandable to architects. Scott Kriner, technical director of MCA and president of Green Metal
Consulting in Macungie, Pa., has been shepherding the LCA project from the start. Kriner recently
spoke with Metalmag about the status of the metal industry LCA and where it goes from here.
MM: Does the LCA data paint a
favorable picture of the environmental impact of metal?
MM: How can the information
be used in a way that’s useful to
designers and specifiers?
SK: You can’t really look at LCA in a vacuum
SK: The way to do comparisons is to take the
LCA report and create an environmental product
declaration, or EPD. That is what we are doing
now with the MCA. We just finished an EPD on
insulated metal panels and are beginning work
on EPDs for metal composite materials and
metal cladding — metal roofing and walls. When
you have an EPD for a product, you can review
a competitive EPD and compare them easier.
This is the point where you can start to say, in
terms of greenhouse gas emissions, our process
is somewhat better than theirs. You need that
EPD where everything is clearly defined and you
can easily look at the data and transform it into
a common functional unit to make that kind of
comparison.
The MCA intends to put together a marketing
piece that compares our three products against
competitive products in the same category in
different climate zones around the country and
compares identical buildings with different roof
and wall systems. Every step is very complicated.
There is no simple answer to any of it. But without the LCA, you don’t have any data, so you can’t
take these subsequent steps. The LCA really just
and say whether it’s good or bad. It is like a
nutrition label on a food item. You look at
the nutrition label and all you see are levels of
sodium and sugar and different chemicals and
vitamins. How do you know if that is good or
bad? A person who has high blood pressure
and needs to watch their sodium intake is
going to look at the sodium level. But even
looking at that label and not knowing how it
compares to the food item on the shelf next
to it, how do you know if it’s better or worse?
That’s how you have to look at an LCA.
You can’t just read our LCA report side-byside with someone else’s report — concrete, for
example — and say that we’re better in this category and they’re better in that category. You
have to normalize the information and make sure
it’s all relative to the same boundary conditions.
In our case, the LCA work we did was based on
1,000 square feet of coverage for each of the products. Concrete might have a completely different
boundary condition. For a layman to pick up an
LCA report and compare it to another is almost
impossible.
Scott Kriner
Technical Director, MCA
President, Green
Metal Consulting
takes raw process data and converts it into environmental impact data in different categories and
establishes a database you can share with more
universal databases.
MM: What is the incentive to
put all of this together? Is
there growing demand on
the customer side?
SK: Programs like LEED and some of the
codes, like the International Green Construction Code, are creating incentives for having an
LCA or EPD. They’re not yet establishing levels
of performance, but they are saying you can get
a point in LEED or compliance in the codes with
an EPD. The industry is hearing more inquiries
on these items and they are showing up in specifications. Transparency is a big buzzword right
now. Even if they don’t know what it is or what
it means to the environment, customers want to
know what is in the product.
When I’m looking around, I don’t see a lot of
industries that are this far along. So I’m feeling
good about the metal construction industry as
an industry. Some companies have been doing
this for quite a while, but as industries, there
are quite a few out there that are behind the
eight ball and trying to catch up.
Metalmag | Fall 2013
9
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