Innovation CENTER
Diamond Manufacturing perforated metal panels used to create 'crown jewel' of NEPA incubator centers
When the Chamber of Business and Industry in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. was planning to turn a historic downtown building into Northeastern Pennsylvania's newest incubator center, leaders wanted it to be more than the typical concrete and paint shell of most pre-fab commercial incubators.
"This was the building that housed one of the first F. W. Woolworth Five and Dime Stores in the country, so it was special to us and important to the revitalization of center city," reports John L. Augustine, III, the Chamber's senior director of Economic and Entrepreneurial Development. "We definitely wanted this landmark building on South Main St. to be a 'crown jewel' in the city's redevelopment."
Facing design challenges created by the building's landlocked location, project manager James A. Bell, Jr., AIA, of the Bohlin Cywinski Jackson architectural firm, and the chamber called on nearby Diamond Manufacturing, in Wyoming, Pa. for help in adding some high tech design features created with perforated metal that were both aesthetic and functional.
"The Wilkes-Barre Chamber purchased the building when the Woolworth Store closed in the 1980s," adds Augustine. "It was vacant until 2000 when the Chamber partnered with the Great Valley Technology Alliance to begin redevelopment of the structure as a high tech business incubator."
Incubator consultants recommended the basement and first floor be used for retail space, the second floor house the business incubator, and the third and fourth floors be turned into Class A office. With no side or rear windows to use, the architects faced the challenge of getting daylight into the lobby and throughout the rest of the four floors.
"The Chamber put us in touch with Diamond Manufacturing, the largest perforated metal manufacturer in the country. By using perforated metal as the stair risers in the main entry, we were able to meet the code regulation of having closed risers, yet maximized the amount of light filtering into the entrance lobby and stairwell, making the space brighter and more inviting," Bell notes.
Diamond was also able to help solve a second design dilemma. The layout offered multiple two-story atria capped with south facing clerestories and translucent roofs designed to bring light into upper level conference rooms. Interior windows were used to spread this light among nearby rooms. All these hard surfaces of glass, while sharing light, created acoustical challenges.
Diamond Manufacturing's Acoustax division makes a patented line of lightweight, sound barrier panels that are perforated with sound absorption material. By cutting these standard panels into geometric shapes and painting them to match the interior furnishings, the architects were able to install sound-deadening wall panels that looked like pieces of artwork.
The $6.2 million renovation resulted in a transformation that has earned the building numerous state and national awards and recognition as a best practice building for reuse, including a Community Development & Improvement Award by the Northeastern Pennsylvania Nonprofit & Community Assistance Center and the 2004 Silver Commonwealth Design Award, recognizing design excellence and responsible development in Pennsylvania. The building also received a Special Recognition Award from the Northeastern Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA).
"It was designed not just as a business shell, but to unite energy, ideas, talent and expertise. Its location in a KOZ (Keystone Opportunity Zone) designated area, as well as a HUB Zone, provides a variety of tax incentives to potential tenants," Augustine adds. There is currently 15,000 square feet of Class A office space available.
The newly named Innovation Center @ Wilkes-Barre houses the country's first joint collegiate and general trade Barnes and Noble Bookstore, serving the students of King's College and Wilkes University, and the local community. Designed for business start-ups, there are 14 companies sharing the second floor technology-based incubator space. The third floor has two large e-commerce companies in Class A office space.
"Without Diamond helping solve numerous critical acoustical issues caused by the windows, concrete floors and the steel ceiling, the project would not have been nearly as successful," Augustine adds. "We had even purchased white noise systems to help address the problems, and they didn't work nearly as well as the Acoustax panels."
Family owned and operated since 1915. Diamond Manufacturing is headquartered in Wyoming, Pa., is a division of Diamond Consolidated Industries, Inc., and makes custom perforated metal, plastics and other materials for use in a wide variety of industry applications including washer and dryer drums, grain silos and dryers, parking garages, resort hotels, microwave ovens and automotive components.
Under the direction of CEO Rusty Flack, Diamond Consolidated Industries has four divisions in addition to Diamond Manufacturing including Trucks Unlimited, an interstate trucking company; Perforated Metal Plus, a full service distributor of various metal products; Dependable Punch, a maker of every type and shape of punch used by perforating companies; and Acoustax, which also makes sound barriers for highways.