Peninsula College: Maier Hall

Port Angeles, Washington
Client:  Schacht-Aslani Architects and Peninsula College
Dates of Service:  2008-2010

Project Summary:  Durable brick-veneer and metal-panel cladding and highly infiltration-resistant curtain-wall window systems shelter weather-exposed exterior walls of this new college building, while the building’s manufactured wood-resin wall panel system is tucked within more recessed portions to limit weathering.  Copper through-wall flashings project well outside the brick veneer to become part of the building’s architectural language as well as serving their functional drainage purpose.  Rather than fighting the Olympic Peninsula’s damp climate, the roofs of this building are designed to encourage and sustain moss growth.  

PL:BECS Services:  PL:BECS provided guidance to Schacht-Aslani Architects during the building’s conception, as well as limited installation oversight during its construction.  Design assistance addressed exterior assemblies as well as specific exterior detailing.  Due to the submergence of the building’s performance hall floor well into the site’s dense, impermeable glacial till soils, this portion of the on-grade slab floors incorporates a sub-slab drainage system as well as redundant, two-layer bentonite waterproofing. 

Several different metals were used as part of the building’s exterior cladding elements, including copper flashings, aluminum windows and panel wall systems, and galvanized steel masonry ledgers, necessitating particular care to isolate these from each other to preclude electrolytic corrosion.  A heat-welded single-ply roofing system was used, both for cost-efficiency as well as to address the building’s challenging details, where thicker membrane systems would prove more vulnerable. Construction-phase services included review of shop drawings and product submittals for exterior elements, mock-up assistance, installation oversight, and related services.