Sto Corp., a leader in facade claddings, air barriers, coatings, and renovation systems, has made recent advancements in its branded Sto Panel Technology business. Sto Panel Technology, which produces fully engineered and tested prefabricated finished exterior megapanel systems, is now introducing the versatility of 3D printing to its megapanels with StoPanel 3DP powered by Branch Technology. Sto is also bringing megapanel walls and windows together in a more efficient and integrated way through a collaboration with Kawneer North America.
“At Sto, our overarching goal is to provide architects, designers, and building professionals with the widest range of aesthetics through the most complete collection of building enclosure systems via our offsite construction technologies,” said Tyson Kindstrom, vice president of industrialized construction with Sto. “Megapanels continue to present a host of value propositions to construction professionals – from design freedom, greater efficiencies, and collapsed project timelines to potential cost savings.”
STO/BRANCH TECHNOLOGY: '3D DESIGN FREEDOM' FOR EXTERIOR WALLS
StoPanel 3DP delivers unprecedented three-dimensional design freedom for exterior walls. The megapanel system includes all the building envelope control layers integrated with a unique, fully customizable 3D-printed composite facade. The 3D component, called the Composite Core, is lightweight, structurally robust, and easy to install. Branch’s unique Cellular Fabrication (C-Fab) 3D printing process gives designers and architects the ability to stretch the limits of their creativity. The technology enables StoPanel 3DP to create virtually any 3D shape or form at a large scale.
“StoPanel 3DP bridges the gap between design freedom and precision manufacturing to achieve phenomenal results for the building envelope,” said Karine Galla, senior project manager for Sto. “To arrive at this solution, Branch Technology robotically prints a lightweight polymer matrix and then fills that matrix with an insulating foam, providing continuous insulation for the wall panel. Digital files are used versus shop drawings in this manufacturing process, ensuring extreme accuracy that is true to the original design. The result is three-dimensional exterior facade that turns heads and sets a building’s design apart.”
STO AND KAWNEER: INTEGRATING WALLS AND WINDOWS
Sto Panel Technology’s collaboration with Kawneer North America integrates windows and walls together in the manufacturing process, achieving greater efficiencies and improved safety on the job site. Kawneer window receptors are installed during the offsite production of the StoPanel megapanels.
“This has a measurable impact on window installation once StoPanels have been shipped to a location,” said Richard Martens, director of business development for Sto. “By fully integrating the prefabricated wall and window system, crews can install the windows from the inside of the building versus shipping the windows with the wall panels or performing installations from the exterior of the building. It allows for a seamless installation option that drives down material and labor costs while reducing site safety risks.”
Sto Panel Technology and Kawneer North America have conducted independent, third-party testing of the StoPanel with Kawneer windows and customized receptors. The testing covered air leakage resistance, dynamic water penetration resistance, and structural loading. The results showed no water penetration through the StoPanel or the window receptor and perimeter sealant assembly at a test pressure of 10.0 psf, while also meeting a design pressure rating of 40 psf. The system consisting of the StoPanel, Kawneer window and receptor installed in the StoPanel, and window perimeter sealant met the requirements for a 40 psf DP rating when tested in accordance with AAMA 1010.
Sto and Kawneer North America are designing a system with a new high thermal window and receptor to meet more stringent codes. It will also be tested to AAMA 1010.
For more information on Sto Panel, visit www.stopanel.com.
Related Stories
| Nov 2, 2010
A Look Back at the Navy’s First LEED Gold
Building Design+Construction takes a retrospective tour of a pace-setting LEED project.
| Nov 2, 2010
Wind Power, Windy City-style
Building-integrated wind turbines lend a futuristic look to a parking structure in Chicago’s trendy River North neighborhood. Only time will tell how much power the wind devices will generate.
| Oct 13, 2010
Prefab Trailblazer
The $137 million, 12-story, 500,000-sf Miami Valley Hospital cardiac center, Dayton, Ohio, is the first major hospital project in the U.S. to have made extensive use of prefabricated components in its design and construction.
| Oct 13, 2010
Biloxi’s convention center bigger, better after Katrina
The Mississippi Coast Coliseum and Convention Center in Biloxi is once again open for business following a renovation and expansion necessitated by Hurricane Katrina.
| Oct 13, 2010
Tower commemorates Lewis & Clark’s historic expedition
The $4.8 million Lewis and Clark Confluence Tower in Hartford, Ill., commemorates explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark at the point where their trek to the Pacific Ocean began—the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers.
| Oct 13, 2010
Community center under way in NYC seeks LEED Platinum
A curving, 550-foot-long glass arcade dubbed the “Wall of Light” is the standout architectural and sustainable feature of the Battery Park City Community Center, a 60,000-sf complex located in a two-tower residential Lower Manhattan complex. Hanrahan Meyers Architects designed the glass arcade to act as a passive energy system, bringing natural light into all interior spaces.
| Oct 13, 2010
Community college plans new campus building
Construction is moving along on Hudson County Community College’s North Hudson Campus Center in Union City, N.J. The seven-story, 92,000-sf building will be the first higher education facility in the city.
| Oct 12, 2010
Holton Career and Resource Center, Durham, N.C.
27th Annual Reconstruction Awards—Special Recognition. Early in the current decade, violence within the community of Northeast Central Durham, N.C., escalated to the point where school safety officers at Holton Junior High School feared for their own safety. The school eventually closed and the property sat vacant for five years.
| Oct 12, 2010
Guardian Building, Detroit, Mich.
27th Annual Reconstruction Awards—Special Recognition. The relocation and consolidation of hundreds of employees from seven departments of Wayne County, Mich., into the historic Guardian Building in downtown Detroit is a refreshing tale of smart government planning and clever financial management that will benefit taxpayers in the economically distressed region for years to come.
| Oct 12, 2010
Gartner Auditorium, Cleveland Museum of Art
27th Annual Reconstruction Awards—Silver Award. Gartner Auditorium was originally designed by Marcel Breuer and completed, in 1971, as part of his Education Wing at the Cleveland Museum of Art. Despite that lofty provenance, the Gartner was never a perfect music venue.
