The Hardy Service Center is a $10.75 million new construction facility that triples the space of the Meals on Wheels Metro Tulsa headquarters. This means more room for meal prep, volunteer training sessions, and office staff – and the capacity to go from delivering 300,000 meals per year to over 1 million per year.
The facility is located at the prominent intersection of 51st Street and Yale, adjacent to the Tandy YMCA and across the street from LaFortune Park. The architect and contractor envisioned a building exterior that could capitalize on this popular location by using large graphics and branding elements to raise community awareness.
We provided a turnkey solution for the building facade, including design-assist, engineering, fabrication, and installation. The organization’s logo is formed from FlexFacades Type 1a PES ventilated mesh panels. We worked closely with the architect to ensure custom colors that were an exact match for the brand colors and create a unique form that provides visual depth. Hidden lighting elements illuminate the logo at night, without revealing unsightly mechanisms during the day.
As a reference to the daily deliveries Meals on Wheels Metro Tulsa makes, the main building is comprised of shipping containers. This necessitated additional detailing for the cladding screens, both to deliver the integrity of the design and the intended depth, and to ensure the steel frames on which the panels are affixed would integrate seamlessly with the containers without compromising the underlying tectonic form.
“The location and design is going to do more to increase our visibility than any advertising budget that a nonprofit could ever hope for,” said Katie Oatsvall, Meals on Wheels Metro Tulsa President and CEO.
