Monon Crossing Retail Space

For the new Monon Crossing retail space in Westfield, Indiana, the city wanted an eye-catching building to stand out from the busy road and pedestrian walkway on the adjacent Monon Bridge. Leech-Hensley Architects and Peterson Architecture designed the structure for the look of brick and stone, but found the costs associated with conventional masonry were higher than anticipated.

EIFS were a consideration for the facade, but the owners, Midland Atlantic, were reluctant, as they did not think it would have the durability or visual versatility required.

The distributor, Marshall Building Specialties, Inc., the contractor, Little Construction and Dryvit proposed a custom solution that would provide the look desired with a lighter structural load to save money, labor and time.

The Outsulation® Plus MD system enabled different textures and colors, so each retail unit would be unique. At the roof-to-wall condition, panels using Dryvit’s ReflectIt™ coating were prefabricated in a factory to look like real metal, but at a fraction of the cost and weight.

NewBrick®, a light-weight insulated veneer, eliminated steel lintels, wall ties and mortar net use, which resulted in a lower whole wall cost and sped the installation. Despite initial apprehension, Midland Atlantic’s Kelly Boyle stated, “We were very surprised, happily surprised, at the variation in material that you could achieve and the weight of that material...that would’ve been much more costly and heavier with a traditional masonry product.”