'A Second Skin'

'A Second Skin'

ARCHITECTURE by Mark Gordon | Managing Editor

A Sarasota firm is first in line to use a building material that protects against a constant Gulf Coast threat: Humidity.

Don't tell the folks at the ADP Group that pennies are frivolous coins.

The Sarasota-based architecture, design and planning firm used mere pennies recently to test how well a highly touted construction material designed to protect against rain and humidity really worked. The firm's principals were considering using the material in the construction of its $28 million headquarters, scheduled to be built next year.

The penny tests were successful, as were several other more scientific ones conducted outside the firm.

Indeed, the results of the tests were so good, the ADP Group plans to become the first company or contractor in the Gulf Coast to use the material, called Prodema BAQ+. The product, popular in Europe for the last decade or so, is a high-density composite wood panel made up of a resin compound and a protective finish. It's used in the wall paneling part of the construction process.

"You are creating a second skin to the building," says Alex Hidalgo-Gato, a spokesman for Formas, a Miami-based architectural consulting firm managing the North American Prodema product lines for a Spanish-based manufacturer. "And you are creating space between those skins."

The panels essentially serve as a rain-screen that blocks the "forces attempting to drive water into the building," the company says. The system also allows the air cavity between the finish panels and the building to create a stack effect, so moisture quickly drains or evaporates.

The now-internationally patented line of Prodema products were developed by Norwegians in 1946. In addition to being common in Europe, a few companies in the U.S., such as the W Hotel chain, have also started using it recently. It's the humidity-protection component that makes it perfect for Florida, Hidalgo-Gato says. And that's exactly what drew the ADP Group to it.

"We're trying quite hard to bring new materials to the region and to try to get away from the same old stucco," says Javi Suarez, an architect and partner at ADP. "We think this could be a landmark design."

Alas, there is a higher cost to landmark rain and humidity protection. Prodema BAQ+ costs about $25 to $40 a square foot, more than double the standard $15 a square foot price of stucco, a much more common building material.

Suarez and Hidalgo-Gato, though, say the expense is worth it in the long run, especially in the humidity-heavy Gulf Coast.

The ADP group plans to show off the Prodema materials in its new office and then pitch the products to clients. The firm's planned 30,000-square-foot building will contain other energy saving and green building components too, company officials say.

Back to the pennies. Before agreeing to use Prodema BAQ+, the ADP Group wanted to see how it performed in a Sarasota summer. So employees attached pennies to a sample of the product and left it outside. Each month, a penny was removed to test for color changes and any potential damage. In each case, the company says, the original appearance in color and finish were retained and there were no signs of damage.

Seeing is believing, and what ADP officials saw made them believers in the product.

The Project

The Project

Developer Dr. Mark Kauffman is planning to build 154,000 square feet of office space in a pair of four-story buildings and a 464-space parking garage at the corner of U.S. 301, Adams Lane and Ringling Boulevard in downtown Sarasota.

The modern buildings that come to a point where Adams Lane and Ringling Boulevard merge are designed to heavily feature glass, concrete and a new wood-paneling technology being developed in Spain.

"It should be a very unique building," Kauffman says.

Kauffman has owned the property since 2003 and had previously designated it for a mixed-use condominium project. But with the collapse of the condo market, that project never started.

Kauffman says he hopes to break ground next year on the first building, the triangular-shaped 30,000-square-foot structure. The building will house three floors of office space and one floor of retail facing Ringling Boulevard.

The larger 124,000 square-foot building and parking garage would be constructed later.

Kauffman's project qualifies for fast-track approval under the city's downtown core zoning. Because the developer is not asking for a more intensive use, the city's planning staff will review the project and neither the City Commission or planning board will be required to vote on it, speeding the process considerably.

Bruce Franklin, of The ADP Group, a Sarasota-based architectural design firm, is designing the project. Franklin said his firm is also part of the investment team and plans to move its headquarters into the first-phase building.

AT A GLANCE

The ADP Group

Partners: Bruce E. Franklin, president; Javier Suarez, AIA, senior vice president; Robert M. Town, III, senior vice president; Peter Houk, managing partner

Year Founded: 1984

Full-time Employees: 40

Top Projects: North Port High School, North Port; Sarasota High School Additions & Renovations, and Media Center Addition, Sarasota; Five Points Plaza, Sarasota; The Greater Sarasota Chamber of Commerce, Sarasota; Visual Arts Education Center for Ringling College of Art & Design and Sarasota Museum of Art, Sarasota; Metro Marquee, Bradenton, Villages at Tuscany Park, Estero, 200 S. Washington, Sarasota, three hotels for Ocean Reef Resort, Key Largo; The Concession Golf Club and Villas, Bradenton; Copper Mill Golf Club, Zachary, La.; Arrowhead Country Club, Rapid City, S.D.; Worthington Country Club, Bonita Springs; Meridian Distribution Center, Sarasota; and Gold Coast Eagle Distributing, Sarasota.

REVIEW SUMMARY

Industry. Architecture

Business. ADP Group

Key. A new method of constructing buildings is being tried to make them work longer and more efficiently in the subtropical Gulf Coast heat and humidity.