New Millennium Building Systems

Featuring Versa-Dek^® LS roof deck, Branch Park Pavilion design marries indoors, outdoors in clean, dramatic space.

Austin, Texas, is the fourth-fastest growing metro area in the country, fueling demand for a range of infrastructure across the region. The Mueller master plan community perfectly encapsulates the trend.

Mueller is a transit-oriented development 3 miles northeast of downtown Austin. It offers walkable access to key assets: work, retail, and dining, along with recreational amenities. Sited at Austin’s former municipal airport, the 700-acre planned community has invested heavily in parks and gathering spaces, making sustainability its focal point. Branch Park Pavilion is among the community’s latest additions; it officially opened on June 27, 2021.

The pavilion is designed for a variety of indoor and outdoor uses, but its signature event is the Mueller Farmers’ Market, part of the Texas Farmers’ Market, a non-profit that educates people about sustainable food systems and provides locally sourced produce.

Local architectural firm Lawrence Group designed the 20,000-square-foot pavilion, with Architectural Engineers Collaborative as the structural engineer of record. Located in Branch Park, the pavilion design prioritizes the natural outdoor spaces as highly as the constructed indoor spaces. Massive doors with floor-to-ceiling glazing create a dramatic interior space. The lightness and transparency connect seamlessly with the exterior park, evoking a grand presence. The project employs common building components in an exceptional manner. It is a palette of concrete, steel and glass in a simple, elegant design.

Visual and acoustic challenges

New Millennium Building Systems assisted the design team on architectural deck options, details, accessories and high-performance coatings.

The steel roof deck is Versa-Dek 3.5 LS for the exterior canopies and Versa-Dek 3.5 LS Acoustical for the interior. The deck profiles helped resolve the challenge of smoothly transitioning from the inside (acoustical) to the outside (non-acoustical), a feat complicated by the deck running both parallel and perpendicular to the window wall system.

Versa-Wedge® hangers are used to suspend equipment from the ceiling to provide the cleanest aesthetic possible. Dovetail profiles like Versa-Dek conceal roof fasteners that typically leave unsightly punctures. Wedge hangers are flexible and non-destructive. Tradespeople can locate lighting, fire suppression lines and mechanical hangers anywhere along the dovetail reveals without puncturing the steel deck.

With multiple hard surfaces — a concrete floor, an exposed steel structure and gypsum board walls — the acoustics could suffer. Acoustical steel deck absorbs the ambient noise that resonates during peak traffic, limiting the echo chamber effect. The deck achieves a noise reduction coefficient (NRC) of 0.95, offsetting the potential overwhelming acoustics of people congregating at the market. This eliminates the need for an additional suspended ceiling that would detract from the taut architectural composition.

Uniting the built and natural environments

In Mueller Town Pavilion, there is nowhere to hide — all elements are exposed. Lawrence Group articulately detailed a structure that integrates concrete columns, steel beams and steel deck wrapped in a window wall system. The continuity of the cantilevering roof appropriates the exterior space, making it a logical extension of this communal experience. The building serves to connect the built environment with the natural one. It is a constructed solution that strips down the extraneous, revealing the essential, featuring the people of the community as the attraction.

Experience the benefits of Versa-Dek

New Millennium helps you achieve your architectural vision and realize a range of project and performance improvements. Our steel roof deck specialists have decades of practice in the industry and are ready to offer valuable guidance.