Wolf Creek is a community located in the southwest suburbs of Atlanta. Here, residents enjoy a quiet lifestyle away from the bustling city. In this neighborhood, people can appreciate the wildlife in the surrounding area from the comforts of Wolf Creek’s lush cul-de-sacs. With access to the surrounding lakes, creeks, and woodland in addition to the neighborhood country club and golf course, Wolf Creek would appear to be the ideal place to raise a family. Despite the verdant sanctuary’s attractive list of assets, Wolf Creek was still missing something that is essential to community development: a public space.
Public spaces are places where people gather; they can exist in an urban environment or, in the case of Wolf Creek, a neighborhood. When moving to a new area, many prospective homeowners consider how easily accessible the public spaces are. These spaces are crucial for socializing and community-building, as these multipurpose areas are one of the few places where residents are encouraged to interact. A public space can be a mall, plaza, park, marketplace, or any other public gathering space.
This was what Wolf Creek lacked. That is, until September 2014 when Wolf Creek Library opened its doors to the public. The state-of-the-art library was the result of a voter-approved $275 million project whose main objective was to improve existing libraries while erecting eight new ones throughout Atlanta and Fulton County, GA.
Leo A Daly architects were tasked with its design, which resulted in the 25,000 square feet of LEED silver, steel-framed building. Upfront, the library is equipped with an outdoor reading garden, music rooms, a 5,700 square foot adult collections section, a 5,000 square foot children’s collections, 2 conference rooms, and a community meeting room that can seat 125 people, to name a few of Wolf Creek Branch Library’s many amenities.
The exterior of the library is enveloped in ALPOLIC® MRT Prismatic Magma, which is coated in custom Anodic Satin Valflon® supplied by Valspar. The metallic material of the library’s façade is painted countless shades of red, each color spanning seamlessly across the material. The vibrant hue appears to transform from a deep sunset red to a shimmering copper, Copper had initially been considered for the exterior’s cladding, until ALPOLIC®/fr aluminum composite material coated in Valfon had proven to be the better option, offering both durability and the copper-like appearance that was desired for the project.
Avery Sarden, Vice President and Director of Operations at Leo A Daly, mentions the intentions of the architects behind the coppery coating. “We wanted the shimmer, we wanted the reflectivity, we wanted the shifting colors. We wanted a material that would mirror back and reflect the natural setting that was around it. Copper has its patina, and in the long view would not have provided that for us.”
The coating contains a Lumiflon FEVE fluoropolymer resin topcoat, which is seen on the exterior of the Wolf Creek Branch Library’s iconic symphony of reds and oranges. The FEVE technology of Valflon ensures that the library’s coating remains in pristine condition for decades without sacrificing the richness of its magma-like façade.
Information and photos courtesy of Design and Build With Metal and Leo A Daly