The Desert Aviation Center is located at the North entry of the North Las Vegas Airport. The building includes office space for various tenants as well as a large hanger space. The design team’s scope included a full façade remodel to improve the appearance of the existing 1970’s building and to improve parking lot access.

As the building serves as the front door to the North Las Vegas Airport, it was important for the design to be a visual reference of what is beyond and within the building. This was done with a screen façade that incorporates a bold graphic of an airplane silhouette. The design is simple in nature, a screen with movable flaps set on a one-foot grid where each flap is set in motion by the varying winds. This creates a dynamic composition that speaks to aeronautics – air/wind/movement.

Reuse and restore are design drivers. The existing building is simplified throughout the use of a dark colored plaster resurfacing system, making it recess in the composition. The kinetic screen becomes the element that moves the building away from the steel warehouse feel unifying the composition.

Renovations included:

-Site modifications: addition of driveway, re-striping
-Kinetic screen
-Perforated metal panel entry canopy with building signage
-Landscaped planters along the building (perimeter road elevation)
-Perforated metal panels wrapping both existing North and South stair to match entry canopy
-Smooth cement plaster system on primary elevation, painted
-Exterior underside of soffits balcony and upper soffit: removal of metal panels and installation of perforated metal panels to match entry canopy and wrap at stairs