Montgomery College - Student Services Center

Takoma Park, MD

Mason Contractor: Genco Masonry, Inc.
Architect: Einhorn Yaffee Prescott

Project Description

The architect mixed this blend of materials to create a playful and inviting façade to welcome students to the new Student Services Center at Montgomery College. Whether he was alternating courses of standard size brick with 8" x 8" brick or creating a checkerboard look with the 8" x 8" brick and soldier courses, this architect was truly thinking outside the box when it came to this masonry façade. Even the large cast stone was fluted and sitting on stone columns to give it a gothic look.

The job was built with all CMU backup and stainless steel flashing that was required to come all the way through the backup and turn up two inches. This was very difficult in this steel structure where the backup often changed from an eight inch block to a six inch and then a four inch block as it wrapped around steel columns. The architect didn't want anything square on this building and used over ten different angled brick along with gradually curved walls.

The lobby is a rotunda area which carries all the way through the building and eventually becomes the mechanical penthouse on the roof. It was extremely difficult to build this portion of the building due to the pedestrian bridge that adjoins the building at the second floor. Scaffolding had to be built from the ground and then bridged over to complete the rotunda at the roof level. This building has become the centerpiece for the revitalization of the Takoma Park campus.