Fiber Cement

The Emil & Grace Shihadeh Innovation Center, a 54,000-square-foot facility at Handley High School in Winchester, VA was designed by VMDO in partnership with Reader + Swartz Architects. 

The design emphasizes high-visibility work labs and dynamic collaboration spaces, while prioritizing sustainability with features such as natural daylighting and healthy materials. 

The exterior renovation of the existing brick school incorporates Swisspearl's high-density fiber cement panels, a mix of red Swisspearl slat panels, dark grey large panels, and wood slats in a rainscreen application with ECO Cladding’s economical visible-fastened Hci.10 System. The design team was committed to providing a fully engineered system (both C.I. Subframing and Panel Subframing) in which the entire wall is engineered to accommodate project wind loads, seismic loads, building slab-to-slab deflections, and thermal movements of materials.

The project, a joint venture with Laurel Ridge Community College and local industry partners, aims to enhance workforce readiness for high school students and community members, fostering innovation and collaboration.

This new single-story, three-bay fire station replaces the existing station that had deteriorated due to age and was no longer large enough to support the department’s needs. ECO Cladding provided a Hci.11 subframing system for the installation of the fiber cement and metal panels . The 15,250-square-foot facility provides spaces for training, living spaces, community meeting spaces, and dedicated areas to support the county-wide fire and EMS response system and volunteer station needs.

Designed by Barker Rinker Seacat Architecture, the new Northglenn Recreational Center is located on a civic campus, nestled between Highway 25 and EB Rains Jr Memorial Park and Webster Lake. The design of the center plays with pace throughout its architecture - highlighting two speeds - fast and slow. Built upon a memorial parkway, the project was conceptualized as a 'new boulevard' approach, creating a modern, engaging aesthetic while keeping the small-town feel that the committee so strongly expressed as important. For the fiber cement rainscreen panels, the design team utilized a visible rivet Hci.11 System from ECO Cladding for ease of installation using the horizontally oriented, variable depth wall brackets.

Beaverton’s first state-of-the-art performing arts venue, the Patricia Reser Center for the Arts is envisioned as an iconic art and entertainment destination which will enhance the cultural and economic vitality of the suburban community.  The theater is modeled after the inside of a beaver’s home, with back-lit wood panels positioned along the wall and ceiling. Situated on a prominent, yet irregularly shaped site adjacent to the light-rail station, City Hall and Beaverton Creek, the Center will mediate between the emerging urban development and surrounding natural setting. The $51 million project was made possible thanks to the generosity of private champions and public funding. Both Alpha V and Alpha H wall brackets are incorporated into the design, forming the building blocks for the Vci.10 and Hci.10 systems.

Using ECO Cladding’s Alpha Wall Brackets, the uniquely inset and fabricated fiber cement feature was installed at angles that could only be accomplished using a variable-depth bracket assembly. Designed by Perkins&Will, the new 220,000 square feet Behavioral Sciences Center will bring behavioral health close to home for the Greater Houston area. From an exterior facade perspective, the project incorporates large-format, through-colored architectural fiber cement panels by Swisspearl, fabricated like puzzle pieces to create visual detailing to offset the brick expanses along the elevations. Both Alpha V and Alpha H wall brackets were incorporated into the design, forming the building blocks for the Vci.10 and Hci.11 systems.