Linetec finishes Dri-Design’s rainscreen system for Wisconsin’s

largest hospital construction project

Wausau, Wis. (January 2011) – Columbia St. Mary’s in Milwaukee opened in October 2010, completing the Wisconsin’s largest hospital construction project. The 312-bed hospital concluded the four-year timeline on this 22-acre health care campus. Appropriate to the hospital’s scale, style and functionality, the building’s exterior features an aluminum rainscreen system manufactured by Dri-Design Wall Panel Systems of Holland, Mich., and painted by Linetec of Wausau, Wis. The finished system protects against the harsh, winter climate and high winds of Lake Michigan. Located in a historic neighborhood on the east side of Milwaukee, Columbia St. Mary’s spans 835,000 square feet and rises nine stories to fit the architecture within the health care campus and its surrounding community. Designed by Hellmuth, Obata + Kassabaum (HOK) of St. Louis, the facility was constructed by Milwaukee-based joint venture team of CG Schmidt-Barton Malow. The $417 million project replaced two, aging hospitals -- St. Mary’s and Columbia -- with a unified, cost-effective, modern facility. The new hospital is expected to save approximately $19 million on annual operational costs.

From the earliest stages of Columbia St. Mary’s development, HOK applied evidence-based design (EBD). EBD principals guide the research-driven creation of a pleasant and efficient work environment focused on improving patient outcomes. The resulting building configuration is intuitive for patients, visitors and staff to navigate. Obvious entry areas and traffic patterns direct acute-care inpatients and non-acute-care outpatients. To further enhance the healing environment at Columbia St. Mary’s, building materials were selected to minimize noise, optimize indoor climate control, and maximize daylighting and outdoor views.

EBD also recognizes that protecting patients’ privacy and controlling infection are essential to any health care facility. HOK reports that a rainscreen system assists in preventing moisture from entering the wall cavity and thus prevents any opportunity for mold to grow. Along with providing a superior water barrier, the system’s thermal performance assists in reducing the hospital’s energy costs. Contributing to the rainscreen system’s effectiveness, Linetec applied the Bone White Kynar® finish to 136,000 square feet of Dri-Design’s 0.080-inch aluminum panels, which were installed by Architectural Products of Wausau, Wis. “This may be the largest metal wall panel project using that type of product in Wisconsin,” says Architectural Products of Wausau’s president, John Schremp. Linetec’s marketing specialist, Tammy Schroeder, LEED® Green Associate, agrees, “It was a huge project for our home state of Wisconsin and exciting to be a part of it. We expect the building to be here for many years. The reliability and durability of this painted finish contributes to its longevity, helping reduce maintenance, repair and replacement, while shielding the building against aging, weathering and pollution.”

The high-performance 70% Kynar coatings meet the most stringent, exterior, architectural specification, AAMA 2605-05. This specification requires paint coatings to meet rigorous testing performance standards including 4,000 hours of salt spray, and heat- and- humidity resistance. Ensuring both environmental performance and responsible practices, Linetec’s finishing facility safely and efficiently captures and destroys the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) present in liquid solvent-based paints at the factory.

“VOC content, when released directly into the atmosphere, has been known as a contributor to ozone depletion. For liquid Kynar coatings, we use specialized equipment to safely capture 100% of the VOCs released in the painting process, and to destroy these captured VOCs with 98.5% efficiency at the factory - before arrival to the building site,” explains Schroeder. “VOCs can be of special concern to projects pursuing sustainable, green design goals and to health care facilities with sensitive medical equipment and patients with compromised immune systems.”

“HOK is committed to sustainable design and on exterior wall systems, we’re very convinced by the rainscreen system,” adds HOK’s senior project designer, David Buckley, AIA, LEED Accredited Professional. HOK’s confidence in Dri-Design’s rainscreen system and the principals of EBD, have earned compliments from the architectural, health care and Milwaukee communities. Columbia St. Mary’s president and CEO, Leo P. Brideau, concluded, “We have created a hospital that is different from anything else in the region and fulfills our promise to provide health care that works, health care that is safe, and health care that leaves no one behind. It will make significant contributions to the way health care is delivered both locally and nationally.” Columbia St. Mary’s Hospital; Milwaukee; http://www.columbia-stmarys.org Owner: Ascension Health, St. Louis; http://www.ascensionhealth.org Architect: Hellmuth, Obata + Kassabaum, St. Louis; http://www.hok.com General contractor: CG Schmidt-Barton Malow Joint Venture Company; Milwaukee; http://www.cgsbmc.org/ Specialty contractor: Architectural Products of Wausau; Wausau, Wis.; http://www.apwausau.com Rainscreen system manufacturer: Dri-Design Wall Panel Systems; Holland, Mich.; http://www.dri-design.com