The Jury is In: CENTRIA® Transforms Mall to Municipal Building

How do you take what was once a bustling shopping center and turn it into a place where judges will administer the law in courtrooms?
    
That was the challenge before planners and designers when it came to the Richland County Decker Center in Columbia, SC. Originally the home to a host of retail establishments that included a Kroger grocery store, the center was to become the home for the central magistrate court. It would also house a substation for the Richland County Sheriff’s Department.

Stripping Away the Past

Strip malls have a distinct look. The goal was to transform the appearance of the building so that it no longer looked like a mall and insteadwould be fit for key municipal services. 

Architects specified CENTRIA’s metal panels to create a seamless façade for a police station, the municipal court, the traffic court, the Sheriff’s regional headquarters and the magistrate court.

“We achieved this by blending the metal panels in an artful way, allowing the building’s exterior aesthetic to act as a metaphor for the multicultural area in which it is situated,” says Justin Lucas, senior project architect with The Boudreaux Group, the architectural firm that handled the project. 

Passing the Bar

Formawall panels in Off-White and Chromium Gray helped to create visual impact across the main building façade.

CENTRIA’s Formawall high-performance building envelope system consolidates six wall components into one product, creating distinct architectural wall profiles to match any building design.

Designers can choose panels that enable both horizontal and vertical installation for maximum flexibility. The panels are factory foamed in-place, minimizing the potential for gaps within the panel. 

On the rear of the building, designers capitalized on the versatility of CENTRIA’s Versawall insulated metal panels, specifying them in a metallic Sundance AM coating. Lucas noted that the continuous grey tone of the panels delivered a sharp, seamless look while enabling the project to remain on budget.

Versawall is a family of commercial and industrial insulated metal panels that deliver the industry’s best combination of aesthetics, performance, sustainability and value. 

In 2020, CENTRIA expanded its Versawall product line to include Versawall H+. From a design perspective, Versawall H+ enables architects to create a sleek, modern look for large-scale buildings that have lower, wider profiles, including warehouses, schools and shopping centers.

Community Impact

Totaling 112,000 square feet, the Richland County Decker Center also houses a community room for public events.