Valspar Delivers Custom Coating Solution for JW Marriott Austin
Weathered steel is a popular architectural material thanks to its rich, mottled
appearance, but it comes at a high price.
The architects at HKS Hospitality Group
in Dallas, Texas, were reminded of this
as they were in the process of designing
the new JW Marriott Convention Center Hotel in Austin. The original concept
for the building was to integrate natural
materials that are found within the Texas
landscape. For the façade of the 34-story
primary tower, HKS HG wanted a weathered metal appearance, but when the
team saw the estimate to use weathered
steel, they knew the price was too high,
even for a luxury brand like JW Marriott.
Hunt Construction, the contractor on
the project, reached out to ProCLAD Inc.,
the metal wall design company it had previously worked with on a JW Marriott in
Indianapolis. Representatives from Hunt,
ProCLAD and HKS consulted closely to
determine if there was an alternative solution that could deliver the appearance of
weathered steel at a lower price. The architects wanted dimensional panels with
varied colors that would read well from far
away, since the panels would be installed
on the high-rise portion of the building.
Craig Caudill, executive vice president for
ProCLAD, suggested using formed Galvalume panels painted in dark, medium
and light shades to mimic the appearance
of rusted steel. Caudill knew that using a
variety of colors of Valspar Fluropon coatings could help create the dimensional
variety the architects were looking for.
Additionally, the coating would maintain
its look for years to come, as Fluropon is
known for its durability, exceptional color
retention, and resistance to chalking and
chemical degradation.
“The hard part started then,” said
Caudill. The team liked the idea, but
wanted to see a sample before commit-
ting, and they needed it fast. ProCLAD
contacted Valspar, which was able to
color match the three shades, work with
Western Extrusion to coat them on steel
flat stock, and ship them to ProCLAD
The architects liked the appearance of
the panels as well as the lower cost of the
solution, but still weren’t ready to commit
to the colors.
“HKS provided us with a few paint
samples and requested to see five new
sets of colors in varying shades of brown,
along with a few metallic options,” said
John H. Kelly, metal buildings market
manager for Valspar. “Clients typically re-
quest one or two color variations, but in
this instance, we needed to create nearly
20 color options to ensure the best pos-
sible result for the client.”
Rising to the challenge, Valspar’s lab
team was able to complete the project
between Christmas and New Year’s Day,
so ProCLAD was able to show HKS 15 new
panel mockups shortly after the New Year.
Once the color formulations were created,
the lab worked cohesively with the West-
ern Extrusion team to quickly spray the
oversized panels and have them shipped
to ProCLAD for assembly. With the wide
variety to choose from, the architects were
then able to confidently make their pick
and select a color range that was consis-
tent with the original concept.
“After comparing several options, we
decided that a range of three colors with
a slight variation would best represent a
naturally weathered steel, but in an interpretive manner. We selected a range
of warm brown tones that are found in
weathering steel that has been exposed
to the elements over time,” said Eddie
Abeyta, HKS principal and commercial
design director.
McElroy Metal supplied 40,000 square
feet of 18-gauge Galvalume steel coil
coated with Valspar’s Classic II Fluropon
in a custom color combination of Barrel
Brown, Fudge and Mustang.
“It’s a testament to the relationships
we have forged in the exterior cladding
markets with key suppliers such as U.S.
Steel and Valspar as well as visionary ex-
terior cladding contractors like ProClad
Inc. The culmination of this project was
simply a direct result of teamwork,” said
Mark Lawson, VP of sales at McElroy
Metal. “Everyone had to be on the same
page to achieve the structural and aes-
thetic goals of HKS, Valspar, ProClad and
McElroy Metal. I think this will serve as a
signature project for everyone involved.”
“With the combination of design flex-
ibility, attention to energy efficiency and
superior detail to quality materials, Win-
Con’s Unitized curtain wall system comple-
mented the one-of-a kind JW Marriot,”
said Charlie Ruyle, VP of Win-Con Enter-
prises, Inc. “The towering Unitized curtain
wall achieved the aesthetic look desired by
the design team and allowed for coating
customization of the aluminum fins and
mullions. Valspar is one of our preferred
manufactures due to their range of ca-
pabilities so we were thrilled to work with
their team to supply the coating for com-
ponents of the curtain wall.
Photo credit: HKS, Inc. / Blake Marvin
