Case Study Title Goes Here

Knox College, in Galesburg IL, was in need of more space, and better space, for arts education. Fine arts had been housed with music and theater in a facility built in the early 60s. The college had ambitions to build a dedicated, state-of-the-art facility with studios for painting, printmaking, design, sculpture, ceramics, drawing and digital art, metalworking and woodworking shops, classrooms, faculty offices, dedicated open studio space for faculty and seniors working on capstone projects, and space to display student work.

If the goal was large, the strictness of the budget was, in a sense, even more ambitious. To meet the college’s construction budget, Metl-Span Builder P.J. Hoerr, Inc., knew just what was needed. As Kirk Anderson, vice president of P.J. Hoerr, put it, “We could only do it with a metal building system.”

Sub-headline

The exterior evokes a kind of idealized industrial complex. The rhythmic saw-tooth roofline makes the entire building look like a single, vast, gleaming machine. The metal standing-seam roof, made with MBCI galvalume-coated roof panels, is echoed on about 20% of the exterior walls as well, emphasizing industrial roots. The clusters of rectangular glass, and accents of reclaimed brick and reclaimed wood, take it beyond the utilitarian reference, an evolution into something more sophisticated and complex.

The Whitcomb Arts Building project began in November 2015 and was substantially completed by October 2016 at a cost of $7 million. Metl-Span Systems made the buildings, and P.J. Hoerr was general contractor, self-performing substantial amounts of the work including the concrete, steel erection, metal cladding, and finish carpentry. P.J. Hoerr, Inc., was named Metl-Span Systems’ Master Builder of the Year for 2016 for this project. The building was fully opened for student use in January 2017.