Organic Design: Curved track brings offices to life
Curved walls and “cloud” formations highlight the top two floors of the new City Place Tower in West Palm Beach, Fla., an 18-story building with 300,000 square feet (27,870 m2) of Class A office space. Home to Intech, an institutional money management firm, the project utilized more than 5,000 linear feet (1,524 m) of 20-gauge, 6-inch (152-mm) Flex-C Arch and 20-gauge, 3 5/8-inch (92-mm) Flex-C Trac from Flex-Ability Concepts to bring to life the unique architectural theory utilized in designing the interior office space.
Los Angeles-based Jalali Design was the architect for Intech’s 50,000-square-foot (4,645- m2) headquarters. Firm President Yousef Jalali based his organic design theory on the assertion that “nothing is square in nature.” “My style is opposite the Roman influence where everything is square,” Jalali said. “I take a more medieval approach where there are few right angles and more fluid movement.”
The office hallways tend to “meander” with numerous curved walls and soffits. Additionally, the halls include more than 250 “cloud” formations at ceiling level. “When the construction team saw the design concept, there was really a lot of concern about how we were going to accomplish all of the curves,” Jalali said. “But the doubters were amazed at how quickly the installation was completed. Without Flex-C Arch and Flex-C Trac, the process would have been impossible.”
“This was a large, complex job,” said Jaime Meza, project manager at Master Plaster Inc., the installer. “We had a 12-man crew there for about a year but that increased to 40 to 50 installers at peak times. We have lots of experience with Flex-Ability Concepts products. Flex-C Arch and Flex-C Trac were perfect for this complicated job. They’re more time-efficient to install than traditional framing and they’re sturdier.”
Intech, West Palm Beach, FL.
Architect: Jalali Design, Los Angeles, CA
Installer: Master Plaster Inc., Hollywood, FL.
Distributor: Jeffrey Grummert, Around Florida Distributors Inc., Clermont, FL.
Metal track: Flex-Ability Concepts, Oklahoma City
Story courtesy of Metal Construction News Magazine