Payette receives design award UMass. Medical School facade project

Payette was the recipient of a design award for a façade replacement at the University of Mass. (UMass.) Medical School/UMass Memorial Medical Center-University Campus. Sponsored by AIA/Central Mass. and Preservation Worcester, this competition had a special interest in honoring adaptive reuse, restoration, and preservation projects. In winning this award, Payette was honored for enhancing the image of the UMass. Medical School and UMass. Memorial Medical Center-University Campus with a quality, energy-efficient facade. The school and hospital building was constructed in two phases in the early 1970s by two separate design teams with different construction details. The existing wall system had minimal insulation, no waterproofing and severe infiltration issues. The building massing and facades lacked articulation of the various entry points and clues to the institutional identity, which made way finding for the general public very difficult. The primary challenge was to execute a strategy that minimized disruption to day-to-day activities in the complex while re-cladding the entire facility. The existing facade failure not only provided the opportunity to replace a failing facade, but also to enhance the aesthetics of the campus while creating distinct but unified identities for the school and hospital. The 1970s era granite facade was in imminent danger of falling off the building. Every granite panel showed some evidence of movement caused by the panels bowing and many of the support anchors were defective and no longer functioning. Additionally the aluminum window system had outlived its usefulness. Team members for the project include Bovis Lend Lease LMB, construction manager; Engineered Solutions, mechanical engineers; R. W. Sullivan Engineering, electrical/plumbing engineers; Simpson Gumpertz & Heger (SGH), structural engineers; and Payette as architectural designers and landscape architects.