Taking up a whole city block in Atlanta’s Midtown, 1105 West Peachtree is a mixed-use development with a Class A 31-story office tower anchored by Google, the Epicurean’s 19 floors of luxury condominiums, the Autograph 178-key hotel, the nearly one-acre Sky Terrace and an amenity deck and green space connecting the three towers.

MillerClapperton fabricated and installed metal materials for the three structures, though the majority of the cladding construction firm’s involvement was with the 730,000-square-foot office tower.

In all, 59,800 square feet of Metal Composite Material (MCM) was designed for the building’s exterior, including office column frames, spandrels, and fascia for the balconies.

“The architectural intent was for the columns and spandrels to look like steel beams and this was achieved through a unique application of MCM in two custom colors and the shape of the panel profile,” said a representative from MillerClapperton.

The columns and spandrels were also specially engineered to work in sync with a custom dynamic RGBW LED façade lighting design highlighting the exoskeleton’s metal beams.

Due to the size and complexity of the project, the firm developed some customized fabrication and installation methods.

For starters, instead of installing the panels onto the substrate as is typically done, the column office frames were pre-fabricated in MillerClapperton’s production facility 20 minutes outside of downtown Atlanta.

Then the columns were installed as units as opposed to individual panels. A specialized equipment supplier was brought in to develop a unique method for lifting the large 14-foot-high units. To accommodate the tall height, the necessary adjustments were made along the way.

Four main columns running the length of the building from top to bottom contain horizontally connected spandrels on the South and North elevations for a total of eight.

The challenging project required a high level of communication and execution from the company’s engineering, fabrication, and project management teams.  Following a year of planning and design, construction took 15 months.

Noted amenities include a conference center, state-of-the-art fitness center, bike and car service, scooter stations, a valet, restaurant, and 20,000 square feet of grown floor retail, all 1,000 feet from the MARTA metro system.

The project picked up several awards including an Urban Land Institute Atlanta Excellence award and multiple Atlanta magazine Georgia Design Awards.