The Golden Gate Bridge is acclaimed as one of the world's most beautiful bridges. With its tremendous towers, sweeping main cables, and great span, it is a sensory beauty featuring color, sound, and light. Celebrating 75 years, the bridge can be a very busy place; it is estimated that about nine million people from around the world visit the bridge each year.
When asked by the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy to serve as the lead architect for the 3,426-sf Golden Gate Bridge Pavilion, Project Frog was in search for a fiber cement product that included a moisture management system. Looking at several different manufacturers, price points, and aesthetics, Project Frog landed on Nichiha’s Illumination Series panels through a client who had recently used the product on one of their buildings.
The Golden Gate Bridge Pavilion was developed with the latest technology and innovation available. The building’s cladding will serve to call attention to the structure itself, with the famous international orange color on three sides and a storefront consisting entirely of glass, floor to ceiling.
Project Frog was intrigued by the plethora of physical properties of Nichiha panels, including durability, panel proportions, clipping system, texture/finish, V-groove panel joints, and the ability to utilize Nichiha’s Color Xpressions System, where Nichiha will match any paint manufacturer’s colors in satin finish. The patented clip system allows for panel joints to fall off stud locations as well.
“When you have a landmark with such strong national recognition and commitment, you know you have the right combination of product advantages,” states Doug Kennard, territory manager at Nichiha USA. “This Golden Gate Bridge Pavilion project typifies all the aspects of the Nichiha brand... providing quality exterior cladding solutions that deliver on high performance and bring to life the look our clients desire. Plus if we can also lower the installed cost and shorten the installation process, we’ve done our job.”
The new Golden Gate Bridge Pavilion is made from environmentally responsible materials and has abundant green features including: high-performance, super-insulating glass units incorporating suspended film technology; abundant natural daylight; complete LED lighting system for artificial light; ultra-high efficiency furnace with economizer function; and low-flow commercial plumbing fixtures; in addition to Nichiha’s sustainable Illumination Series panels, which contain 40 percent recycled content.
The new Golden Gate Bridge Pavilion will include interpretive display elements and artifacts alongside retail merchandise. Not only will it teach its visitors about the historical significance of the building, but it will also provide educational information about sustainable building techniques, energy performance, and environmental responsibility. +
Related Stories
| Oct 12, 2010
Gartner Auditorium, Cleveland Museum of Art
27th Annual Reconstruction Awards—Silver Award. Gartner Auditorium was originally designed by Marcel Breuer and completed, in 1971, as part of his Education Wing at the Cleveland Museum of Art. Despite that lofty provenance, the Gartner was never a perfect music venue.
| Oct 11, 2010
HGA wins 25-Year Award from AIA Minnesota
HGA Architects and Engineers won a 25-Year Award from AIA Minnesota for the Willow Lake Laboratory.
| Sep 30, 2010
Luxury hotels lead industry in green accommodations
Results from the American Hotel & Lodging Association’s 2010 Lodging Survey showed that luxury and upper-upscale hotels are most likely to feature green amenities and earn green certifications. Results were tallied from 8,800 respondents, for a very respectable 18% response rate. Questions focused on 14 green-related categories, including allergy-free rooms, water-saving programs, energy management systems, recycling programs, green certification, and green renovation.
| Sep 21, 2010
Forecast: Existing buildings to earn 50% of green building certifications
A new report from Pike Research forecasts that by 2020, nearly half the green building certifications will be for existing buildings—accounting for 25 billion sf. The study, “Green Building Certification Programs,” analyzed current market and regulatory conditions related to green building certification programs, and found that green building remain robust during the recession and that certifications for existing buildings are an increasing area of focus.
| Sep 16, 2010
Gehry’s Santa Monica Place gets a wave of changes
Omniplan, in association with Jerde Partnership, created an updated design for Santa Monica Place, a shopping mall designed by Frank Gehry in 1980.
| Sep 13, 2010
7 Ways to Economize on Steel Buildings
Two veteran structural engineers give you the lowdown on how to trim costs the next time you build with steel.
| Sep 13, 2010
Community college police, parking structure targets LEED Platinum
The San Diego Community College District's $1.555 billion construction program continues with groundbreaking for a 6,000-sf police substation and an 828-space, four-story parking structure at San Diego Miramar College.