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Mesa Community College Student Services Center 

San Diego, California. Built into a 50-foot hillside, the Mesa Community College Student Services Center incorporates façade and glass seamlessly. Made to last with PPG DURANAR® coatings, made with Kynar 500® FSF® PVDF resin. 

Photo credits: HGW Photography

Designed by the award-winning firm ARCHITECTS hanna gabriel wells to earn LEED® Gold certification (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design®), the center features a series of terraced interior and exterior spaces that function as communal gathering hubs. An open four-story atrium adds wayfinding visibility and fosters interaction among students, faculty and administrators, as well as the school’s academic departments. This energy-efficient 85,000-square-foot space intergrates both the local landscape and the 16 different academic departments. 

PPG Duranar® coatings, made with Kynar 500® FSF® PVDF resin, are vital to the center’s performance, functionality and contemporary design. Architect Jim Gabriel said panels made from aluminum and stainless steel were selected for the building’s exterior because of their versatility, durability, and ability to blend in with the school’s natural surroundings.

Metal has the advantage of being able to be fabricated into numerous configurations and detail sets. This allowed the design team to develop building skins with confidence, knowing that the chosen materials would be able to meet the needs of performance and design.

Jim Gabriel, Architect, ARCHITECTS Hanna Gabriel Wells, San Diego 
Gabriel’s team specified PPG Duranar® coatings made with Kynar 500® FSF® PVDF resin in three colors – Butternut, Compatible Cream and Kaffee – for the batten seam panels and large, flat fascia panels that highlight the Center’s variegated metal exterior for the 7,000 square-feet of column covers.

“The aluminum panels were chosen for their non-corrosive nature and finishing the material with PPG Duranar® coatings provided a long-lasting, low-maintenance skin,” Gabriel explained. “The colors also create the feel of natural wood while relating to the natural earth tones of the adjacent Tecolote Canyon.”

The Legacy

For nearly 50 years, PPG Duranar® coatings have been made with Kynar 500® FSF® PVDF resin and have been trusted by architects and building owners to protect and beautify metal building components of curtain walls, storefronts and other high-visibility applications.
Consisting of a corrosion-inhibiting primer and a proprietary 70-percent fluoropolymer top coat, PPG Duranar® coatings are available in a wide range of colorful, durable and chemically inert formulations that provide exceptional resistance to color fade, chalk, chemical attack and surface damage caused by acid rain, salt spray and humidity, even in highly UV-intense environments, such as southern California.



Protect your Investment, specify finishes made with Kynar® PVDF for your architectural projects.

©HGW Photography
©Duranar is registered trademarks of PPG Industries Ohio, Inc.
LEED – an acronym for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design® – is a registered trademark of the U.S. Green Building Council®.

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