Monday, March 13, 2023 | Congratulations to the Grand Rapids Group College or university ATC Secchia Piazza undertaking crew as they were honored with a Washtenaw Contractors Affiliation 2023 Pyramid Award on Friday, March 10 for Best Task Team for tasks $3 – $25 million.
The new Secchia Piazza at GRCC concerned reworking an present out of doors patio at the Applied Engineering Center into an indoor multi-use house. The renovation integrated lots of revolutionary and challenging options, the most notable becoming a 31’ large by 15’ tall cone-formed skylight with vibrant glass panels that reshaped the campus and serves as an iconic landmark in downtown Grand Rapids. Other critical attributes incorporate a customized flooring feature built by GRCC artists, a Live Roof program and renovations to the Heritage Restaurant, a instructing restaurant for the Secchia Institute for Culinary Education and learning.
One of the largest development worries on this project included site logistics, as the setting up is found on the corner of a occupied downtown Grand Rapids intersection, which still left little to no area for laydown area. Additionally, the get the job done inside of the developing took spot earlier mentioned and adjacent to occupied areas.
The most well known style element of the new Secchia Piazza was the oculus (cone-shaped) glass skylight technique referred to as the Skycone, which is the initially of its sort. This architectural characteristic bundled 20 coloured panels, each individual produced up of 1-5/16” laminated glass panels with a colored film internal layer in 7 shades of oranges, yellows and greens. The glass was established in a painted aluminum body, and the complete system serves as the middle part of the ceiling for the new piazza addition. Building this kaleidoscopic roof program was exceptionally challenging supplied both of those the structure by itself and the size and type of glass components utilised. In between the room’s suspended acoustical tile ceiling and the skylight previously mentioned, custom laser reduce plastic panels colored to match the skylight glass are supported by a personalized fabricated aluminum construction to improve area acoustics while also maximizing the working experience of light-weight and color in the place.
Centered beneath the cone-formed skylight is a 30’ diameter polished concrete ground with steel/metallic inlays, making a special form of circular artwork. The metallic panel inlays were being developed by GRCC artists to evoke the academic pathway students just take from the Secchia Institute to culinary possibilities across the nation and about the world.
Outside, the new addition attributes a terrace deck with views of the city, accessed by oversize sliding glass doors which also introduce refreshing air and breezes to the celebration room.
This task necessary collaboration, very qualified craftmanship and considerable coordination to ensure achievement. The staff navigated really tight web-site logistics in a substantial-targeted traffic, occupied facility and overcame a lot of offer chain and volatile market place troubles. In the conclusion, they delivered a unique house that will leave a legacy for GRCC, its pupils and the encompassing community.
The Architect on the job was Progressive AE.