The construction company Civilria and the façade company TEF- Technical Envelope Facades presented a challenge to b-face for developing a facade system that should meet the aesthetic requirements designated by the architect—never forgetting the performance and sustainability designated by the project inspection company and the construction owner, respectively.
It would be imperative that the solution be economically viable, which would involve less material spent and minimize as much as possible the less sustainable processes, both in procurement and in the transformation stages as well as the installation of the façade on site. Doing this would enable a more efficient assembly, both for the level of planning and use of resources.
This type of system/solution was neither an existing system nor certified in the façade systems market. In this sense, b-face realized this development could effectively respond to some gaps in the response of several building construction systems. The objectives for the development of the exterior facade of the AGEAS building were translated as follows:
- Develop a façade with a clean viewing area, where the consumer only sees glass. There are no vertical supporting elements such as aluminum profiles, glass fins, or steel
- Reduce the amount of material and waste
- Optimize the thermal performance of the building to ensure its energy efficiency
- Optimize the acoustic performance of the building to minimize the number of other types of material for the same purpose
- Minimize less sustainable processes during their construction
- Make the project economically viable
- Standardize manufacturing and erection processes
- Develop a facade system that allows not only the installation of the glasses by the exterior (like most existing systems) but also promotes the use/maintenance phase of the building its removal/replacement by both sides
Briefly, it is a façade where there are no vertical elements, which gives a clear view of the exterior of the building. This development began with the design of a conceptual design of a solution that was then validated at the level of design and calculation. After this theoretical validation, a prototype was made that was later tested according to the regulations applied in a certified laboratory, in this case, the Itecons laboratory.
This certification allowed the validation of the solution as a façade system because the classification of the system in relation to certain objective parameters and the necessary CE marking of the product did not exist for this façade typology.
Summary of characteristics/parameters
- AEV water tightness rating.
- Air permeability: Class A4 – class A4 is the highest possible class.
- Water tightness: Class R7 -Resistance to wind action: Fit – 1300Pa.
- Impact classification was obtained by the test in the Itecons laboratory of I5.
- Reduction of aluminum material (treated/anodized or raw) between 35% to 55% compared to a conventional façade (comparative calculation of weight and quantity of material with conventional façade solution.
The development of the detailing phase involved several aspects in Tekla
- Introduction of Cloud Points and posterior mesh.
- Insertion of customized profiles and special parts as items.
- Use of ALTO facade tools.
- Customization and automation of drawing layouts.
