#facade material

Key Aspects of Façade Material Selection

Building facade is the skin of a building that not only ensures aesthetic but functional purposes of a building. And that is why it is gaining popularity in recent times. Previously it was all about concrete cover of facade material on the structure. But now architects have started to think about this aspect of the building and focus on sustainable material procurement.

The architect/designers divide the face of the building structure into two areas. First, is the vision area which is directly exposed to the sunlight, and hence the materials used here permits sunlight transmittance to the interiors. In short, it acts as a weather barrier against air and water infiltration and should transmit light to the interiors. The other part/ area is called the Spandrel area where horizontal and vertical beams appear. Here, the materials that are opaque in nature are mostly used.

Façade materials should be chosen on the basis of many factors like the product’s value, lifespan, performance in different climatic conditions, availability, price, and health and safety measures. Rather than the price, the most important factor to be considered is the material’s durability and its contribution to the building’s performance. While trying to reduce costs, procurement specialists should not opt for cheap materials that will only increase the cost of building over time.

VJAA - Hennepin County Walker LIbrary   http://www.architectmagazine.com/design/buildings/hennepin-county-walker-library_o

“…the cladding on the upper portion of the facade was developed as a stainless steel roof tile, and we applied it to the façade. It’s become very popular because it’s relatively inexpensive, but the trick is you have to detail it carefully. If you use conventional termination techniques—cladding with extra strips and cover plates—it gets really clumsy. So we created a set of very inexpensive custom-molded metal details to make the corners very crisp and keep the abstract quality. We found a good balance between the variability of the material and the continuity and consistency. And in the end, it is really amazing how, because of the different angle in each tile, it picks up light in unusual ways…”

“….The glazing in the monitors has a simple yellow laminate in it. When the light bounces into the monitor, the color of the glass window bounces in and down into the reading rooms. It really depends on where the sun is in the sky, and whether it’s hitting directly onto the monitors. But, because they’re all facing different directions, they take up direct sun at different points, as the light changes over the course of the day…..And when the sun goes down, they turn blue because the yellow is no longer illuminating it, just the LED fixtures inside that pick up the blue wall surface. It’s a way of adding an animated element to the upper part of the room for your eye to go to…”