To the casual observer, the distinctive triangular design of One Dalton Place, Boston’s newest skyscraper and New England’s tallest residential tower, looks sleek and serenely uncomplicated. Yet, achieving that look presented plenty of challenges for PPG and Durapaint Industries, the coatings supplier and applicator, who were charged with the difficult task of color-matching two different types of coatings on two different parts of the building.
A Color-Matching Conundrum
Photo courtesy of Four Seasons Image Library
Designed jointly by Henry Cobb of Pei Cobb Freed & Partners and Gary Johnson of Cambridge Seven, the 61-story tower features PPG DURANAR® XL liquid coatings in a metallic pewter finish, a color selected for its ability to provide a seamless, nearly invisible complement to the structure’s tinted glass curtain wall.
Operated by the famed Four Seasons resort company, One Dalton Place concentrates 160 upscale residences in its uppermost floors and devotes the rest of its living space to a 215-room hotel. That distinction helped create the challenge for PPG and Durapaint, which had to match the color of the liquid coatings applied to the hotel portion of the building to the color of the powder coatings, which already had been painted on the residential part of the building.
As the first step in addressing this complication, Durapaint recommended to the architect that he allow PPG to retint the colors created by the original applicator, which had been dismissed because of its inability to meet the demands of the project.
“The job had been started by another applicator and their equipment skewed the colors much darker than they appeared on our paint line,” said Elio Zarlenga, president, Durapaint Industries. “PPG helped us tremendously in reformulating the colors and matching the liquid and power coatings. They also did it quickly, which kept our customer from having to delay the project.”
The size and number of metal building components used in the curtainwall presented another set of difficulties. “The varying thicknesses of the window frame extrusions and the extreme thickness of the curtainwall panels also made it hard to maintain color consistency, as the curing parameters for these components constantly had to be adjusted,” Zarlenga added. “Fortunately, we were able to match colors effectively from the beginning to the end of the project with our two paint lines and advanced application equipment.”
Photo courtesy of Four Seasons Image Library
Built to Last
PPG Duranar XL coatings were specified for One Dalton Place because of their ability to retain color and gloss and to resist corrosion in aggressive seacoast environments like Boston’s Back Bay neighborhood. Based on 70% polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) resin, and supplemented by proprietary PPG resins and pigments, the coatings are available as three- and four-coat systems with a primer, color coat, clear topcoat and optional barrier coat.
In addition to supplying PPG Duranar XL coatings, which were applied to the window framing, panels and capping of the curtainwall, PPG also provided PPG DURACRON® coatings for use on multiple interior metal components.
Just as One Dalton Place quickly became a landmark building on Boston’s skyline, coating the structure presented a landmark opportunity for Durapaint as well. “This project brought a lot of attention to our paint lines,” Zarlenga explained. “With the sheer volume of material that was painted in such a short time span – literally three months for the majority of the components – the end customer was more than pleased, and it resulted in several other large curtainwall fabricators talking to us.”
“Being a member of the PPG-CAP program has helped us tremendously,” he added.
Photo courtesy of Four Seasons Image Library
Owner: Four Seasons Hotel & Residences
Architects: Pei Cobb Freed & Partners and Gary Johnson, Cambridge Seven
PPG Metal Coatings: PPG DURANAR® XL Liquid Coatings
PPG Certified ApplicatorSM: Durapaint Industries; Scarborough Ontario, Canada
About Durapaint Industries
Durapaint Industries Limited is recognized as the premier applicator of liquid high-performance coatings in North America. Since 1987, the company has supplied coated metal products for a variety of industries throughout the world. The main Durapaint plant is over 70,000 square-feet and houses two state-of-the-art paint lines, both vertical and horizontal. These paint lines are designed to process extrusions, panels and other fabricated aluminum and steel products. The company also has a 100,000-square-foot warehouse for storage of customers’ materials.
PPG Certified Applicator Program™
To contact a member of the PPG Certified Applicator Program, or to learn more about PPG Duranar coatings, visit www.ppgmetalcoatings.com or call 1-800-258-6398.
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