The Valspar Corporation has been named the Metal Construction Association’s Chairman’s Award recipient for Overall Excellence in its participation with the Central Arizona College, Maricopa Campus project. The award, presented at METALCON International, an annual metal construction tradeshow, honors MCA members for outstanding building projects across the world. This year, a panel of three architect judges reviewed over 90 architectural projects to determine award winners based on innovation and creativity.

Designed by SmithGroupJJR, the 76,000 square foot facility consists of four buildings featuring classrooms, community meeting spaces, a library and a culinary arts kitchen. Located in the Maricopa community, the campus serves over 15,000 students and 1,000 faculty members. The project was unveiled on Tuesday, September 17th, two years after the project’s groundbreaking ceremony. The $18M project was also the Grand Award Winner of the 2013 Metal Architecture Design Awards.

Valspar provided a Fluropon coating for the Cor-Ten AZP color that was applied in a three-coat process by Precoat Metals to create a unique, rusted and desert-inspired appearance to embrace the campus’ Native American roots, while providing the metal with advanced protection against the elements. The Fluropon coating, containing 70 percent PVDF resins, provides the strongest protection against weathering, aging and pollution and exceptional color retention to preserve the beautiful aesthetic of the facility for years to come, according to the company.

The award ceremony took place at the Georgia World Congress Center during the METALCON trade show that highlighted project participants including Metal Sales Manufacturing Corporation, US Steel, Precoat Metals, SmithGroupJJR, CORE Construction and Kovach Building enclosures.