Although the Venice Renaissance building in Venice, California, is adorned with a well-known public art sculpture of the Ballerina Clown, there was no clowning around when it came to specifying a high-performance, advanced technology architectural coating system from Tnemec. “The original commercial acrylic paint on the building was only two years old and it looked terrible due to dirt buildup,” according to Tnemec coating consultant Tony Hobbs. “The acrylic coating that was on the building was a magnet for all the dirt and dust from the cars and buses on the street.”
Dissatisfied with the building’s appearance, an association of building occupants hired CSI Services, Inc., a third party consulting firm from Santa Clarita, California, and Harris & Ruth Painting Contracting of West Covina, California, to find a solution. When they contacted Hobbs, he recommended Series 1028 Enduratone, a high-dispersion pure acrylic polymer coating with a gloss finish that can be applied over aged coatings for excellent long-term protection. Enduratone also provides dry-fall characteristics that help reduce the potential for overspray issues with surrounding property.
“We conducted a test patch in order to monitor performance,” Hobbs explained. “We took a side of the building and coated it with Enduratone, allowing it to sit for a few months while we observed how it weathered and then we performed an adhesion test. The coating passed with flying colors. The gloss and denser film helped to keep the surface clean while also making the colors appear more vibrant. Whenever it rains, the surface rinses clean, or the maintenance staff can rinse it off.”
The existing painted plaster substrate was pressure washed prior to coating. The project required nearly 200 gallons of Enduratone, which was matched to the original colors of the building and roller-applied. “After three years, the coating looks as clean as it did when it was applied,” Hobbs acknowledged. “The maintenance people at Venice Renaissance have ordered Enduratone for areas that they want to touch up, so obviously they’re coming back to Tnemec instead of the local paint store for touch-up paint.”
The four-story Venice Renaissance building offers a mixture of restaurants, retail shops, high-end residential condominiums, and low-rental apartments for senior citizens. The Ballerina Clown by Jonathan Borofsky is a three-story aluminum, steel and fiberglass sculpture with a stubbly male face that hangs from the building’s corner.