Mellon Center going Bronze (Paint: floors, corporate, buildings)

[BrianTH]

Courtesy of a poster at another forum:

BNY Mellon Center getting fresh coat of paint

Some excerpts:

Over the next year, the exterior of BNY Mellon Center, all 54 floors, will be repainted, going from its current "weathered cedar" look to bronze, which will be its new color.

. . . It is no ordinary paint job. The face-lift will involve the use of 2,500 gallons of a teal primer, 1,800 gallons of a tinted intermediate coat and 1,200 gallons of the bronze finish coat.

. . . Workers began stripping paint and applying primer to sections at the top of BNY Mellon Center in late April. The primer is visible on the Grant Street-Fifth Avenue side. The project is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2011, although Ms. Cigna said the timetable is dependent on the weather. The priming and painting will be done in sections.

Ms. Cigna said BNY Mellon selected bronze as the new color for the building because it fits with the branded corporate color scheme of bronze, silver and gold. She said the color also "works well within the surrounding landscape," which includes the Allegheny County Courthouse and the U.S. Steel Tower, the city's tallest skyscraper.

I had seen the teal primer going up and wondered what they were doing. Anyway, I personally think this could end up being incredibly cool, and as noted, really tie together that stretch of Grant.

[greg42]

Whoa. I noticed that darker color in that indentation at the top, but when I saw that the other morning I figured my eyes were playing tricks, that it was just in shadow.

Can't believe they're going to paint a 700 ft tall building with brushes and rollers. It just sounds crazy!

[grimacista]

I wasn't sure why it had taken so long to replace the signage after taking down the Mellon sign but I guess this answers that. It will look good to get a fresh coat of paint on this building, some parts of it had looked a little weathered.

[jay5835]

Hah! At first I thought you meant the Civic Arena.

[bradjl2009]

^^ I was wondering also why BNY was taking so long with the new sign. It may take some time getting used to the new paint but I'm excited to see what it will look like finished.

[BrianTH]

I've always liked the shape, but never much liked the color, so I'm definitely excited.

[xtant64]

I wondered what those red "vacuum" tubes running up the side of the building were for. I guess this is part of the answer!

[stevo6]

Definitely a good thing, imho. The bronze will look classic.
Its interesting to note that this is a steel building skin, done before steel skin technology was very good. Painting it is pretty extreme, but it had to be done sooner or later.

[BrianTH]

Looking at some old articles, the steel skin of the then-Dravo Tower was considered innovative, but also a cost-saving technique (I gather they didn't have to fireproof it).

Edit: Oh, and if you are walking on Grant, the buildings it really goes along with are USX, the Allegheny County Courthouse, and the Grant Building (the City-County building is too short and basically is blocked by the Courthouse). All those other buildings are some sort of brown, so I'm still thinking the bronze will give a more cohesive look to that side of Grant without looking too matchy.

[bradjl2009]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

Looking at some old articles, the steel skin of the then-Dravo Tower was considered innovative, but also a cost-saving technique (I gather they didn't have to fireproof it).

Edit: Oh, and if you are walking on Grant, the buildings it really goes along with are USX, the Allegheny County Courthouse, and the Grant Building (the City-County building is too short and basically is blocked by the Courthouse). All those other buildings are some sort of brown, so I'm still thinking the bronze will give a more cohesive look to that side of Grant without looking too matchy.

I would like to see them repaint the USX tower to the black paint it was when it likely was opened. A close up when walking by the building show that there's a bit a rust on the steel.