The First Citizens Bank project is a 177,000 square foot, nine-story corporate office building. The project includes a two-story, 400-car below ground parking garage topped by a plaza and a three-story public lobby. The building is a steel structure with a limestone skin. The facility is the new Corporate Headquarters for First Citizens Bank and contains a bank branch.
The exterior skin system was an important design element for First Citizens. They recognized the cost and manpower requirements made this prohibitive. Holder worked with the fabricator to develop a unitized skin system consisting of steel framing, limestone, glass and aluminum framing. The panels come to the site completely assembled and need only be "set" into place. Holder's erector installed up to 22 panels a day. Each panel contained about 150 pieces of limestone (average) and there are approximately 144 panels per floor. The limestone came from Portugal and was shipped to Italy for fabrication. Once fabricated, the limestone was shipped to the metal fabricator in Dallas, Texas where it was assembled with the aluminum framing, caulking, steel support and glass. When it was set on the job, the only thing left to do was apply insulation (foil faced) to the inside and caulk between the units themselves. The installation time was as fast as precast installation and allowed for the many sections and the articulation of the exterior skin to be achieved. This first of a kind system allowed for greater quality control, and supported the schedule in an economical manner.