This project is for two, new 17-story office towers in downtown Minneapolis. The buildings will occupy 1.1 million square feet of mixed use space. It is close to the new Minnesota Vikings stadium so when they were designing this they wanted something that looked good, provided some functionality and had an artistic flair. The sunshades will provide some shade to the building saving in heating and cooling, they look great from the street view and they will cast shadows on the sidewalks for the pedestrians.

Galvanizing the sunshades made financial sense on a few levels. Transportation, maintenance, time-frame and costs are all factors in the design of a project this large. The fabricator and the project are both within 45 miles of the galvanizer's location and with approximately 750,000 pounds of galvanized steel they were able to keep transportation costs low. Scheduling on any project is critical and with the close proximity of the fabricator, galvanizer and the project site, the time from fabrication to site was very short. Doing maintenance or repairs at this height is not easy or inexpensive so the longevity of galvanizing made perfect sense for this application.

Galvanizing the sunshades will keep their Life-Cycle cost at a minimum compared to other coating systems. Minnesotas seasons are very hard on steel. Rain, snow and humidity all contribute to the corrosion of steel. Without proper protection structures do not have a chance in this environment. This company recognized that and demanded a product that would stand up in this environment and look great for decades with little or no maintenance. This company has a reputation for quality products and this building reflects that. They did not want the sunshades to flake, chip, rust or look aged in any way so galvanizing these pieces will ensure a great look for many years. The end result is a product that looks great from all angles of the building, will cast shadows on the sidewalk which should get pedestrians looking up at the building, will last for many years with very low maintenance cost and will look good during the life-cycle of the product. Considering all the factors, galvanizing the sunshades was an obvious choice.