Avalon Elementary School, Mapes SuperShade
The new Avalon Elementary School exemplifies contemporary architectural design trends in the use of mixed materials and surface textures in the exterior elevations. The new school is in Fort Washington, Prince Georges County, Maryland. This school is just south of Alexandria and not too far from the Potomac River—a good setting for a nicely designed new school. The Mapes “SuperShade” sunshade with a clear anodized aluminum finish nicely complements the building appearance and flanks the main entry to the left. The main entry faces southwest and so the “SuperShade” sunshades not only complements the appearance but also very functionally shade the full height windows all along the 46 ft. length of the sunshades. The accompanying picture shows the shading effect. The sunshades were installed at a height just above the windows so as to gain the most shading effect from the 4 ft. sunshade projection.
MATERIALS
This “SuperShade” is all extruded Aluminum. It is finished in a class 2 clear anodized finish. This is the same finish color and type as the window frames below the sunshades. The perimeter fascia / frame is an 8 inch tall “J” style component on 3 sides. The louver blades are 8 inches on center and set at a 45 degree back slant. Mapes SuperShades are shipped in preassembled “framed sections” of the same width as the hanger rod spacings. The hanger rods are powder coated to match the canopy finish color. The installation time is approx. 2 man hours per front foot not including wall drilling preparation for anchor locations. The installed canopy weighs approx. 5 lbs per sq. ft. The canopies are shipped in light weight wood crates and shipped in preassembled sections matching the projection (4ft) and hanger rod spacing widths (approx. 5ft).
ATTACHMENT TO WALL
The Mapes “SuperShade” sunshade is a 4ft projection x 46ft long canopy supported by overhead hanger rods on approximately 5ft spacings. The SuperShade is anchored to a masonry wall structure with stainless steel thru bolts at the upper and lower attachment points. The masonry walls are configured with a brick veneer over CMU back-up walls. At the sunshade level, the brick veneer is smooth face. At the hanger rod level, the veneer is a split face block exterior. 6 inch diameter escutcheon plates visually complement the hanger rod attachment points and provide a good contact surface for properly sealing the thru bolts into the wall assembly. The remainder of the wall assembly is typical air gap, 2 inch rigid insulation and either 8 or 10 inch filled cmu back-up walls. Mapes supplied the stainless steel thru bolts that go thru the entire wall (16-20 inch thick) assembly and included 3 inch diameter back-up washers for each bolt location.
ENGINEERING / STAMPED CALCS
The “SuperShade” sunshades are constructed of all extruded aluminum. They are light weight but very strong. This project, including this SuperShade, was engineered and has stamped calcs included for this specific location and this specific canopy design. This canopy was engineered to meet the 2012 IBC at 120 mph wind load , exp “C”. It was also engineered for snow loads at uniform load of 25 lbs ft and a drift surcharge load of 65 lbs for the solid deck units included with this project. Also included in the engineering was a Seismic of category B / risk category 3. All of these performance capabilities are for this specific location , Ft. Washington, MD. This is in contrast to some canopies supplied by others that simply stamp the components as engineered components at arm’s length from a job site and call it out as engineered and stamped, but then so are 2 x 6’s at Home Depot. That does not make them suitable for all locations and design specific applications. We’ve been supplying location specific stamped calcs from the beginning.
Project: Avalon Elementary School
Built: 2014
Location: Fort Washington, Maryland
Mapes Job Number: M-6877
Architect: Duane, Cahill, Mullineaux & Mullineaux, P.A., Gaithersburg, MD
Canopy Style: Mapes SuperShade Sunshade
Dimensions: 4ft projection x 46ft wide
Finish: Class 2 clear anodized
INSTALLING DEALER: Clinton Awning – Clinton, MD
** With location specific stamped engineering calcs for Ft Washington, MD