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Fassada H60-hybrid curtain wall: a godsend for the architect!

Fassada H60 hybrid curtain wall: a godsend for the architect!

Whether it is the Parthenon in Athens, the Empire State Building in New York, the Louvre in Paris or the Forbidden City in Beijing, all of these breathtaking buildings represent a watershed in history.

Again, a new era is coming: this one of "Climate change," the era of sustainable, environmentally and energy-friendly architecture has begun.

Fassada Systems has launched a revolution for this purpose.

The era of all-glass mid- and high-rise projects is definitely over. Indeed, the trend toward sustainability and low carbon footprint is irreversible. International regulations and standards are the silent witness to it.

The use of materials other than glass and access to challenging, creative infill of the "blind, the opaque zones" of a building grant the architect an unprecedented spectrum of architectural freedom.

Talking architecture usually implies two disadvantages: a hefty price tag, unaffordable and technically risky, mainly with regard to wind and water tightness, not the most important criterion of a building's facade after all.

illus 1 EPDM traditional versus Fassada copying

Technically superior and economical

The above diagram is the basis of the Fassada - Valhalla. The conventional construction of a composite facade (glazed areas combined with opaque materials) is characterized as follows:

- Mounting of the opaque cladding material using specific anchors against structural shell. Perforation of the insulation and therefore thermal bridges.
- At the transition from the window areas to the opaque covering: gluing of waterproof membranes along the entire perimeter.
- Mounting from outside from a rack

The Fassada philosophy, "doing better, simpler, easier and last but not least more cost efficient" has resulted in a breakthrough technology for mounting external structures against Fassada hybrid curtain walls:

- Continuous outer shell, no interruption, no sealing membranes
- No perforations of insulation consequently no thermal bridges
- Fool proof installation from the inside of both facade and opaque cladding, c.q. external structures
- The external opaque cladding are a visual cladding, always ventilated and NOT part of the wind and water sealing of the exterior envelope
- The suspension structure of the opaque cladding is integrated, is part of the outer shell of the curtain wall style

The immense benefits are a laundry list long and in all areas:

1. Technical

- No perforation of the sealing screen of the building by anchors of the cladding
- No interruption of the continuous outer shell (acoustic and thermal perfect)
- No use of sealing seals!!!

At the Rijksuniversiteit in Gent Belgium, prof.dr.ir. Nathan Van den Bossche, director of the Test Center for Façade Elements, extensive research was conducted on the performance of sealing membranes (butyl or EPDM) glued between windows and building shell. In 12 alternative setups in the lab, 12x infiltration of water was observed at pressures lower than 150 Pa.... 

2. Quality of implementation

- The integral assembly and alignment of the anchors is reduced to 0.00. After all, the alignment is part of the style and thus "solved" by the cnc milling machine when machining the styles
- Tolerances mounting cladding = tolerance styles curtain wall

3. Social sustainability

- Installation possible by low or unskilled workers and not exclusively natural stone experts

4. Cost price - more economical

- No statements
- None - for natural stone expensive stainless steel brackets - separate anchor system for cladding
- No separate alignment
- Assembly of 10 m²/hour instead of 1 m²/hour

5. Risk control

- In all areas: mounting costs, alignment, waterproofing, durability,...

6. Safety

- Mechanics are safely inside the building, not affected by rain or strong winds

7. Architectural freedom

- This one has become quasi-unlimited, because of everything much simpler, better and more affordable....

Four concrete case studies

Four actual Fassada projects, currently under construction, are explained below. Each of these construction projects uses a different opaque cladding material:

✓ Case 1 - aluminum cassettes: ING project at Louvain-la-Neuve 
✓ Case 2 - natural stone & plaster: Esplanade project in Brussels
✓ Case 3 - aluminum columns: Moda project in Manchester
✓ Case 4 - stainless steel decorative columns: ING HQ in Brussels

However, it is clear that all materials are possible such as wood, bamboo, stone strips, slats, grc,...in principle there is no limitation. So we can really talk about a "godsend for the architect".   


Case 1 - aluminum cassettes : ING building in Louvain-la-Neuve

The final result looks truly stunning. The alignment and tightness of the cladding is just perfect. Thermal, acoustic, wind and water tightness (instead of 2,400 meters of sealing membranes with the conventional solution, with the Fassada hybrid curtain wall solution reduced to 0.00 m...,) are just unbeatable.


Case 2 - natural stone & plaster : Esplanade project in Brussels

Fassada technology will turn this magnificent EXO-skeleton building by star architect T. Dudler into a true gem, more beautiful, sleeker, technically approaching perfection, risk of sealing problems decimated (a.o. 11,980 running meters of sealing membranes reduced to 824 running meters, which are then still under the cantilevered terraces...) integral free moving façade, integrated non-visible tilt-and-turn windows, ....

Nameless 3 copy

Case 3 - Aluminum columns: Moda project at Manchester

This Moda tower under construction in Manchester with a Fassada H75 hybrid curtain wall, with concealed, fully integrated tilt-and-turn windows, will undoubtedly be a high-profile eye-catcher in Manchester.

Nameless 3 copy 1

Case 4 - Inox decorative columns: ING HQ in Brussels

Conventional facade design versus Fassada concept: 

ING Bank's new HQ in Brussels was designed by star architect David Van Seeveren and Jaspers-Eyers. We can be brief about this: just about all the major European facade builders participated in the tender. The Fassada proposal was the only one with a score of 10/10, both technically and in terms of respect for the architectural design.

Nameless 3 copy 2

Heart of technology

"The heart of the technology of Fassada H60-hybrid is, so to speak, in the 'internal', non-visible part of the curtain wall. On the other hand, with H60-hybrid, the style is a monolithic, thermally broken profile and not a package of profiles bolted together. Moreover, the installation of the glazing is done from inside the building. The combination of these three concrete facts offers unprecedented possibilities in terms of freedom of design for the architect." 

Those "exterior structures" can take any form, such as solar shading slats, neon lighting, a walkway, works of art, solar shading...without perforating the curtain wall's crucial water-resistant screen, and without creating thermal bridges.

Everything is neatly prepared in the workshop and engineered in such a way that those external structures are assembled inside the building just as much as applies to the rest of the facade.

Climate change, not words but deeds

There should be no doubt: climate change is becoming the challenge of choice for facade construction.

The energy consumption of buildings must be drastically reduced to even energy neutral as a result of the increasingly stringent building performance requirements. The well-being, on the other hand, must increase dramatically. Combining the two is the real challenge but of course it must also remain affordable....

Making a curtain wall more performant is one thing, keeping it affordable, however, is another...remember the quote from Garry Kasparov "at the end of the day, it is all about money."

illus 10 a copy

Eric Claeys, CEO of Fassada Systems BV, commented, "Every day the media is flooded with reports. However, many reports do not make sense. Limiting solar overload can only be done by limiting the area of see-through glazing or by 'keeping the sun out' which can only be done by outdoor solar shading. To claim otherwise is nonsense and apekool. Mounting external blinds - regardless of all wind and water tightness issues - is not compatible with a curtain wall glazed from the outside. That too is simple... Fassada's technology is not only miles ahead of the field, but is technically superior due to its simplicity and also inexpensive." 

Anno 2021 Fassada Systems will launch the online e-commerce platform, which will allow the customer/facade builders to place their orders through a login and using Logikal files.

Eric Claeys commented, "E-commerce and digital order processing is the way to go and in this area we have an immense advantage over our competitors because first of all our product is very simple, a direct result of superior technology, after all a good product is de facto simple and secondly we only have a few 10 items (profiles and parts) where that our competitors need a few 1,000 for the same thing... Yes, then you know..."    

www.fassada.com

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