6 ways to use metal screens and mesh for best effect

1. DESIGNER SPECIFIES WIRE MESH for ceiling panels in N.C. brew house

Matt Gallaway, Principal Architect at Russell Gallaway Architects, had very specific design criteria in mind for the hallway ceiling panels in the Sierra Nevada Brewing Company’s Mills River (N.C.) Taproom and Restaurant. “We wanted a weave that would create a seamlessly textured pattern to fulfill our vision,” said Gallaway. He specified more than 2,200 sf of Banker Wire mesh in mid-fill weave of S-9 in T304 stainless steel to be installed in the hallway ceiling panels. He took the idea one step further and created stainless steel woven wire mesh signs that list the brewery’s craft beers. The experimental 20-barrel brew house opened on March 23, with 23 beer taps. The restaurant can seat almost 400 patrons. Gallaway said, “I had never specified Banker Wire prior to the Mills River Taproom, but I have used it multiple times since.”

2. PERFORATED PANELS LEND ‘AIRY LOOK’ to Mississippi aquatic center façade

Design firm JHBM Architecture wanted to provide an airy aesthetic to the façade of the Tupelo (Miss.) Aquatic Center, for the city’s parks and recreation department. The solution: a 1,069-sf EcoScreen Perforated Screenwall from CENTRIA. The architect specified CENTRIA’s Silversmith color and Sundance Mica coating for the panels. Installer FLC Systems worked with general contractor Murphy & Sons Inc. FLC’s Chad Martin said that the key to properly installing the perforated panels across the long, curved wall was to lay out the panels so that the joints fell right on the tube supports—a challenge the detailer/installer readily overcame. EcoScreen panels can be installed vertically or horizontally and are available in coated aluminum and uncoated stainless steel substrates.

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3. NEW AIRPORT IN DOHA USES MESH to help signal Qatar’s National Vision 2030

As part of its plan to switch from a petroleum-based economy to one based on culture, business, and sporting events, the Persian Gulf country of Qatar, host of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, is investing heavily in hospitality and transport facilities. The latest manifestation of its National Vision 2030: Hamad International Airport, which opened late last year in the capital, Doha. It will eventually serve 50 million passengers a year. For the luxury shopping area of the Emiri Terminal, design firm HOK specified two MEDIAMESH screens, each measuring 2,831 sf, from GKD. Each screen is made from six Tigris stainless steel fabric panels, integrated with LED profiles. The installation stretches to more than 73 feet in length. It affords passengers in the first-class lounge a view of the airport hall on one side and the terminal hotel on the other. HOK specified the same system in Hall C of the terminal, where two MEDIAMESH screens occupy 2,346 sf.

4. PERFORATED PANELS GIVE garage a multicolored pattern with ‘movement’

Dave Stone was worried. The President of Engineered Metals Company (EMCO) knew his firm had to install 26,878 sf of façade panels—18,085 sf of which with perforations—on the new, five-story 112 East 5th Street Parking Garage in Austin, Texas, before downtown was mobbed by tens of thousands of visitors to last spring’s South by Southwest conference. The designer, Stephanie Guariglia, Senior Associate at Sixthriver Architects, needed perforated panels to meet code—and for aesthetics. “The perforation provides a variation from a solid face,” she said. She chose McElroy Metal’s 0.0400-inch-thick aluminum coil coated by Precoat Metals in four Valspar custom colors, with a 60% perforation. The panels were formed to McElroy’s Multi-Cor profile. To Stone’s great relief, EMCO completed the panel installation in 60 days, well ahead of SXSW’s opening.

5. BIOSCIENCE TRAINING CENTER employs metal mesh inside and out

Design firm Cooper Carry specified architectural metal mesh from Cambridge Architectural for the $14 million Georgia BioScience Training Center, in the city of Social Circle. The 52,000-sf facility, which opened in September, is operated by George Quick Start, a division of the Technical College System of Georgia. Much of the exterior—10,900 sf—is clad with 149 Lanier panels, a new custom-weaved mesh pattern to shade interior lobbies, classrooms, and labs. At night, the mesh becomes a backdrop for a wall wash of multi-colored LED lighting. Cooper Carry’s Nathan Williamson, AIA, LEED AP, said he chose the Lanier pattern for its tight weave—50% open area—that leads to better energy performance. The mesh is attached to the structure using Cambridge Architectural’s Clevis in-tension system. Inside, L&S Erectors installed Cambridge’s Matte mesh to surround an open-air, elliptical courtyard and provide screening around the main conference room. The manufacturer’s Eyebolt system was used to attach the mesh to the interior of the structure. Whiting-Turner was the general contractor.

6. NATURAL ROCK SCREENING WALL blends in with hospital’s healing garden

McNichols’s Eco-Rock conceals a generator building and acts as an attractive backdrop to the healing garden at the New Milford (Conn.) Hospital’s emergency department. The decorative gabion-style wirework container can be filled with materials like natural rock and glass. It can be used for interior and exterior spaces. SLAM Collaborative (architect) and Guerrera Construction (general contractor) used 60 feet of Eco-Rock—with panels six feet high and three inches wide—and filled it with 140 cubic feet of blue river rock to blend with the brick and limestone. Eco-Rock comes in a variety of finishes, sizes, and wire diameters.