flexiblefullpage -
billboard - default
interstitial1 - interstitial
catfish1 - bottom
Currently Reading

Product innovations: Modular metal panels, hydraulic glass-clad doors, and motorized screens

Products and Materials

Product innovations: Modular metal panels, hydraulic glass-clad doors, and motorized screens

These 6 products can provide innovative solutions to numerous design projects.


By David Malone, Associate Editor | July 16, 2018
Sam's tavern
Sam's tavern

 

Modular metal panel offers sloped depth for a variety of applications

Intercept RZR

Intercept RZR, an addition to Centria’s Intercept modular metal panel system, is a high-performance rainscreen system that creates the option for sloped panel depth of up to four inches. The product is available in both horizontal and vertical applications and can be specified in zinc or aluminum substrates. It is offered in depths of 13/8 to four inches with panel lengths that span up to 138 inches (aluminum), 120 inches (zinc), 48 inches (aluminum), and 32 inches (zinc). Available in a variety of colors and finish options, the Intercept modular metal panel system makes use of a unique fabrication process for variations in size and shape. Custom designs can also be created based on project requirements.

 

Hydraulic glass-clad doors open a Seattle tavern to the outside

Sam's Tavern

Sam’s Tavern in Seattle opened in early 2017 as part of a newly constructed 12-story office building. The restaurant and bar used two glass-clad hydraulic doors from Schweiss Doors to open the restaurant up to an outside patio with additional seating for 20 patrons. The custom-made doors measure 11 feet, 8¾ inches wide by 9 feet tall and include electric photo eye sensors. The hydraulic pumps that run the Schweiss cylinders are mounted inside the building near the doors. Originally, the pump motors were to be mounted on the ceiling, but there wasn’t enough room. The doors have an industrial aesthetic and also provide a protective canopy to outside diners when opened. The doors can be run independently of each other and stop safely at any level.

 

Motorized screens add a layer of protection for 40 outdoors diners

Lowering motorized screen

Eating outdoors always sounds like a good idea, but bright and hot sunlight, wind, or blown rain can make it less appealing. At Princi Italia, a restaurant in West Plano, Texas, these common peccadilloes associated with eating outside are dealt with via a motorized Era Mat system from Nice Group USA, which powers shades along the perimeter of the restaurant’s patio. Seven motor-driven shades capture the air warmed by outdoor heaters on colder days while still providing views of the outdoors thanks to incorporated windows. On more pleasant days, the screens can be raised out of the way. A remote control opens and closes the windows.

 

Condensing boiler is built for outdoor installation

Crest outdoor boiler

The Crest Condensing Boiler line from Lochinvar is expanding with models built for the outdoors. The Outdoor Crest boiler can withstand strong winds, downpours, and UV exposure while remaining highly efficient on both space and energy. The compact units offer space savings for large public and commercial facilities like school systems, universities, and libraries. All outdoor Crest models come standard with the CON•X•US remote connectivity platform that allows commercial facility managers and building owners to monitor and adjust equipment controls from a mobile app. Additionally, the Smart Touch control system is built in each outdoor model and features an eight-inch touchscreen and multi-color interface. As many as eight Crest boilers can be cascaded together. Models range from 750,000 to two million btu/hr.

 

Acoustic mesh panels control acoustics without compromising design

Acoustic mesh panels

GKD Metal Fabrics’ Acoustic Mesh Panels are interior aluminum-based panels designed to improve poor workplace and commercial acoustic environments. The panels incorporate a sag-free, one-inch-thick honeycomb support plate, layered with an intermediate blanket of fiber-free acoustic fleece to dampen noise. Lights, downlights, and sprinklers can be easily integrated within the Acoustic Mesh Panels. The panels can also be removed and refitted quickly for maintenance purposes.

 

LEED Gold texas library incorporates curtain wall, storefront systems

Tubelite used at Seguin public library

The Seguin (Texas) Public Library recently tore down its old library and replaced it with one three times larger. The LEED Gold building used Tubelite’s curtain wall and storefront frames to bring natural views and light into the library that sits along the banks of Walnut Creek. Bulverde Glass, the project’s glazing contractor, used 16,300 sf of Tubelite’s 400 Series Curtainwall and T1400 I/O storefront, plus four Wide Stile doors and frames. With the help of Tubelite’s curtain wall with high-performance glass, a quiet room extends into the branches of a pecan tree to provide visitors with the feeling of sitting in a transparent tree house. Tubelite was selected for its value, aesthetic flexibility, and reliable structural performance. The library earned LEED Gold certification earlier this year.

 

 

Related Stories

| Aug 11, 2010

Financial Wizardry Builds a Community

At 69 square miles, Vineland is New Jersey's largest city, at least in geographic area, and it has a rich history. It was established in 1861 as a planned community (well before there were such things) by the utopian Charles Landis. It was in Vineland that Dr. Thomas Welch found a way to preserve grape juice without fermenting it, creating a wine substitute for church use (the town was dry).

| Aug 11, 2010

World's tallest all-wood residential structure opens in London

At nine stories, the Stadthaus apartment complex in East London is the world’s tallest residential structure constructed entirely in timber and one of the tallest all-wood buildings on the planet. The tower’s structural system consists of cross-laminated timber (CLT) panels pieced together to form load-bearing walls and floors. Even the elevator and stair shafts are constructed of prefabricated CLT.

| Aug 11, 2010

Integrated Project Delivery builds a brave, new BIM world

Three-dimensional information, such as that provided by building information modeling, allows all members of the Building Team to visualize the many components of a project and how they work together. BIM and other 3D tools convey the idea and intent of the designer to the entire Building Team and lay the groundwork for integrated project delivery.

| Aug 11, 2010

Let There Be Daylight

The new public library in Champaign, Ill., is drawing 2,100 patrons a day, up from 1,600 in 2007. The 122,600-sf facility, which opened in January 2008, certainly benefits from amenities that the old 40,000-sf library didn't have—electronic check-in and check-out, new computers, an onsite coffeehouse.

| Aug 11, 2010

Great Solutions: Healthcare

11. Operating Room-Integrated MRI will Help Neurosurgeons Get it Right the First Time A major limitation of traditional brain cancer surgery is the lack of scanning capability in the operating room. Neurosurgeons do their best to visually identify and remove the cancerous tissue, but only an MRI scan will confirm if the operation was a complete success or not.

| Aug 11, 2010

29 Great Solutions

1. Riverwalk Transforms Chicago's Second Waterfront Chicago has long enjoyed a beautiful waterfront along Lake Michigan, but the Windy City's second waterfront along the Chicago River was often ignored and mostly neglected. Thanks to a $22 million rehab by local architect Carol Ross Barney and her associate John Fried, a 1.

| Aug 11, 2010

High-Performance Modular Classrooms Hit the Market

Over a five-day stretch last December, students at the Carroll School in Lincoln, Mass., witnessed the installation of a modular classroom building like no other. The new 950-sf structure, which will serve as the school's tutoring offices for the next few years, is loaded with sustainable features like sun-tunnel skylights, doubled-insulated low-e glazing, a cool roof, light shelves, bamboo tri...

| Aug 11, 2010

BIM school, green school: California's newest high-performance school

Nestled deep in the Napa Valley, the city of American Canyon is one of a number of new communities in Northern California that have experienced tremendous growth in the last five years. Located 42 miles northeast of San Francisco, American Canyon had a population of just over 9,000 in 2000; by 2008, that figure stood at 15,276, with 28% of the population under age 18.

| Aug 11, 2010

Platinum Award: The Handmade Building

When Milwaukee's City Hall was completed in 1896, it was, at 394 feet in height, the third-tallest structure in the United States. Designed by Henry C. Koch, it was a statement of civic pride and a monument to Milwaukee's German heritage. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973 and designated a National Historic Landmark in 2005.

| Aug 11, 2010

Great Solutions: Products

14. Mod Pod A Nod to Flex Biz Designed by the British firm Tate + Hindle, the OfficePOD is a flexible office space that can be installed, well, just about anywhere, indoors or out. The self-contained modular units measure about seven feet square and are designed to serve as dedicated space for employees who work from home or other remote locations.

boombox1 - default
boombox2 -
native1 -

More In Category




halfpage1 -

Most Popular Content

  1. 2021 Giants 400 Report
  2. Top 150 Architecture Firms for 2019
  3. 13 projects that represent the future of affordable housing
  4. Sagrada Familia completion date pushed back due to coronavirus
  5. Top 160 Architecture Firms 2021