Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/178944
PHOTO: CHRIS BOLIN Brick is replaced with terracotta panels within the SAIT Trades and Technology Complex's curtain wall system to provide durability and ease of maintenance. Calgary, Alberta. cutting a deal on the cheap if quality – and, ultimately, perhaps, the company's reputation – might be affected. "There are three big issues for a client: cost, time or schedule, and performance. We try to suggest a supplier based on which of the three issues is the priority. But if cost issues seem likely to compromise performance or warranty strength, I'll roll up the drawings and turn my back on a job," Borys says. Window Wall & Curtain Wall p.12-19Curtain Wall2.indd 17 Besides, he adds, "Right now, there's enough work to go around." The product quality continuum, one might say, stretches from innovation at one end to a willingness to back a product with warranty at the other. Tweaking and improving innovation is part of that continuum. A few years ago, Durabuilt Windows & Doors introduced a product that was designed to create a curtain wall effect with its Hybridex window system in residential highrise buildings and light commercial projects. The aim was to achieve the esthetics and performance of traditional curtain wall in the form of a lower-cost alternative. A newly redesigned version of the Hybridex window system has been introduced, and, according to the company, it includes the industry's irst ive-seal defence system. OCTOBER 2012 /17 9/11/12 11:34 AM