Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/178323
Speaking of Building Envelope NEW PRODUCTS AND SYSTEMS REACH THE MARKET AS OLDER ONES MATURE AND HIT THEIR STRIDE by Godfrey Budd T The advances in building envelope science have been rapid and varied over the last two decades. Sometimes, it seems, what is very old becomes new again. A terracotta rainscreen system, which was first developed by NBK Keramik GmbH for Renzo Piano's Potsdamer Platz project in Berlin in the 1990s, is a case in point. Terracotta, which translates from the Italian as, literally, baked earth, is the oldest type of ceramic. It was first used thousands of years ago, and appears to have been the only ceramic produced in Europe and pre-Columbian America until the 14th century, when higher-fired stoneware first made in China around 3,500 years ago started being produced in the West. The basis for NBK's Terrart metal stud-wall system, which combines classic techniques and modern technologies, is a suspended back-ventilated shell mounted on a thermally separated aluminum sub-girt. It uses a metal stud wall system and includes a vertical fibre-reinforced construction panel, an elastomeric protective membrane, a series of horizontal carrier extrusions, adjustable angle brackets, vertical carrier extrusions, semi-rigid or rigid heat insulation, clips to hold the panels in place and the Terrart ceramic panel. The Terrart terracotta line is not restricted to metal stud walls. It can provide the facade for a precast concrete system or a unitized curtain wall assembly. Terracotta elements can be up to 1,800 by 600 millimetres, as in Terrart-Large. (There's also Terrart-Mid, -Baguette, -Solid, and -Shingle.) Most thicknesses are in the 30- to 40-millimetre range. Terrart is also available as a louver and baguette system. It can be installed via any one of three types of systems, but each is geared for quick execution. Although off-white, red and earth tones are often associated with terracotta, NBK's website says that any colour one might want is available. "The system is very good in terms of its ability to be customized, either with the quality of type of finish, the back-up support system, or the way it's installed — it's very simple," says Andrew Rogers, president of Sound Solutions. Another product that Sound Solutions has recently introduced to the Canadian market is the Öko Skin slat wall-panel system, part of the Fiber C line from Rieder. The panels are conveniently sized — 1,800 by 147 millimetres — and can be easily cut and mounted on-site. "A picture of them immediately gives you the sense that it's a natural product. It's attracted the attention of architects, especially ones looking for natural variations in colour," Rogers says. The concrete-based product requires no painting, unlike wood systems, and less maintenance, and has high fire resistance, described on the website as Class A1. The current form of exterior insulation and finish systems, commonly known as EIFS, were, like Terrart and Öko Skin, developed in Europe. EIFS were developed in what was then West Germany in the 1960s, and were introduced into North America in 1969 by Dryvit, Contemporary terracotta building, Potsdamer Platz, Berlin, Germany. Photo by Eldad Carin. Building Envelope p.12-19Building Envelope.indd 13 7/13/12 9:54 AM