Although not literally made out of ice, the exterior of the Polk Penguin Conservation Center resembles the look of an Antarctic iceberg.

A monolithic tabular iceberg rises inside the Detroit Zoo, sparkling brightly in the sun. Although not literally made out of ice, the exterior of the Polk Penguin Conservation Center resembles the look of an Antarctic iceberg. The center is designed to not only house penguins, but also reflect their natural habitat, drawing inspiration from Antarctica’s icy landscape. Set to open in April of 2016, the state-of-the-art facility is the largest of its kind in the world and houses 83 of the aquatic birds.

Home to more than 2,400 animals of 255 species, the 125-acre Detroit Zoo is one of the premier animal caretaking sites in the country. Adding on to the impressive campus was not an easy undertaking for architects from Albert Kahn Associates. Accounting for more than 326,000 gallons of water and 33,000 square feet of space, designing the interior of the center was only half their battle. When it came to building’s exterior, developers had even grander plans in store.

“We wanted the exterior of Polk Penguin Conservation Center to capture the essence of Antarctica, the most otherworldly place on Earth,” said John Hrovat, director of architecture & design for Albert Kahn Associates, Inc. “Antarctica has an ever-changing landscape due to the ice and light, and we were determined to have the center reflect this original penguin habitat as closely as possible.”

To achieve his desired look, Hrovat teamed up with Imetco and Sherwin-Williams to create a customized iceberg exterior. Imetco supplied four different types of panels for the Polk Penguin project. The most prominent panels are their Diamond 'D' style from our Legacy Wall Panel Systems. The high-performance, diamond-shaped metal panels are perfectly interlocked on the exterior of the center to replicate the jutting and jagged edges of Antarctic terrain. Sherwin-Williams was chosen to create a highly customized color for the metal paneling by using their advanced architectural coatings and color-matching process to find the perfect shade of white for the building.

“Color-matching is often a challenging process, but one Sherwin-Williams truly prides itself on accomplishing,” said Jay Register, group project leader, Sherwin-Williams. “For the Polk Penguin Conservation Center, we went through several different types of coatings and color variations until we found the perfect white that fit the Antarctic vision.”