2 minute read
Building Distinction
from Architectural Products - January/February 2023
by Buildings & Construction Group
Pioneering Products that Elevate Design and Efficiency. At Kingspan Insulated Panels, we’re pioneering better technologies and methods of building for a low carbon world. Kingspan insulated metal panels are the next generation of building envelope, offering an unparalleled combination of aesthetic flexibility, energy efficiency and thermal, air, water and vapor barrier performance.
Asked For and Answered
Architects have been telling manufacturers what they need and, it seems, they are listening.
Design constraints. They exist and it is tragic, but the hope is that every year they exist a little less. New products, systems, and materials are constantly being introduced that shave away the list of things that architects can’t do in a built environment.
The glazing offerings check the boxes for architects’ most common specification requirements.
New products are at the heart of the march toward a constraint-free world. Especially products that address a real need of the architectural community. For example, architects want glazing that offers very low solar heat gain, neutral silver appearance, and neutral reflectivity. Those solutions have recently been introduced by Guardian Glass.
In addition, there is now a carbon-neutral stucco, a pre-weathered copper patina, and high-performance thermal framing, among other things, that answer the needs architects have had for decades.
The next few pages are filled with items that may be new to the market, but have been fixtures on an architect’s wish list for a while.
Consentino Group offsets 100% of the CO2 emissions over the entire product life cycle, making Dekton a Cradle-toGrave Carbon Neutral surface.
www.guardianglass.com
New Glazing Options
Adding two options to its line of double silver coated glass, Guardian introduces SunGuard SNR 35 and SunGuard SNR 50. The glazing offerings check the boxes for architects’ most common specification requirements including very low solar heat gain, neutral silver appearance and neutral reflectivity. Well suited for reflecting bright blue skies and landscapes, SNR 50 strikes the balance between color rendition and neutrality. Applied to the No. 2 surface of a standard insulating glass unit, the product delivers 48% visible light transmission (VLT) and a 0.25 solar heat gain coefficient (SHGC) while SNR 35 offers a crisp, reflective look with an even lower SHGC of 0.17.
CARBON-NEUTRAL STUCCO
As the first large-format stucco material of its kind, Kraftizen is a carbonneutral, ultra-compact surface for facades, paving, cladding, worktops, sinks and more. Reminiscent of Venetian stucco, the material is made from a sophisticated mixture of minerals and comes in five earthy colors, lending serenity to a space.
Cosentino Group
Dekton Kraftizen www cosentino.com
Innovative Insulation
TAJO ceramic ventilated façade is an innovative mounting system that adds strength to a building—while also increasing the thermal and acoustic insulation. The thick ceramic plates have a low environmental impact, are highly durable and are designed for optimal fixing thanks to hidden fastening, and the absence of machining or incisions. IMETCO
SIMPLE
Building System
Preflex is a panelized building system that reduces buildtime, uses less timber and seeks to improve quality through Structured Insulated Panels (SIPs). Preflex says SIPs for walls, floors and roofs are considered one of the most energy efficient and structurally-sound building systems on the market as it includes framing, insulation, wire conduits and sheathing in a single component.
Preflex
Structural Insulated Panels www preflexinc.com
ENTRADA AT WESTLAKE, WESTLAKE, TEXAS
Entrada at Westlake is a charming, walkable community modeled after a quaint Catalonian village in northeastern Spain that just so happens to be located minutes from the hustle-and-bustle of the Dallas—Ft. Worth area. Containing single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums, dining and shopping venues, a chapel and a clock tower, one of the defining features of this development is the stone aesthetic of the facades that transports people back to an 18thcentury Spanish villa.
