Architectural / Building Facades

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[Photo caption: The panels of the Wedding Event Convention Hall, Dong Hoi, Quang Binh, designed by SLA Designers, are being manufactured by Triac Composites. Date of project completion: Q2 2019. For full details on this project, click here.]

 

Architects are continually looking to bring life to dreams, to find a new way to express. But sometimes, this can be very difficult because, no matter how lofty the dream, it remains anchored in the land of reality.

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But composites offer a new way forward.

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Qualities of composites that are inspiring architects are:

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• Design Freedom. Creative and innovative designs can give a project "Signature Project" status. For other materials, the
  manufacturing process can be incredibly complex and difficult to achieve that look, however, for composites, regardless of
  the complexity in terms of intricacy and contours, a mould can usually be produced. Once we have the mould, the Signature Project becomes a reality.

• Lightweight. An architectural facade can add an enormous amount of weight to the exterior of the building with
  potentially significant (and costly) implications for building design. 

• For applications that will be exposed to corrosive elements in hostile environments (eg salt air and water, chlorine etc), composites are ideal.

• Where locations are particularly windy (eg coastal resorts), the strength (and light weight) of the composites also offers significant advantages. 

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YouTube video clip: The Wedding Event Convention Hall, Dong Hoi, Quang Binh (near Hanoi). The panels are being manufactured by Triac Composites (see sample panel below in photo). Expected completion date: Q2, 2019. For full details on this project, click here.

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Review on the use of FRP Composites for Facades and Building Skins, by Chiara Bedon ​(excerpt)

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"Major applications of FRP composites in buildings... can be found especially in the form of jackets, strips or wraps for the retrofitting of existing buildings composed of traditional materials, such as masonry, reinforced concrete, timber or steel. The current trends of architectural design are showing, however, a marked increase of FRP (composite) applications in building façades and skins, both in the form of all-in-one cladding panels, load-bearing pultruded members or adaptive solar protection panels and movable shading systems. In this review paper, a brief summary of the most recent applications of FRP composites in façades and building skins is provided, giving evidence of the variability of applications as well as of the intrinsic advantages of such materials, compared to traditional materials for buildings. The current design trends are also emphasized, via a short summary of some case studies as well as ongoing research projects."

 

This article was published in the American Journal of Engineering and Applied Sciences, September, 2016. To view the full and unabridged article, click here.

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Photo caption, May / June 2018: Triac Composites is manufacturing a composite facade (6m x 3m) for a significant building in Vietnam that needs to be visually unique, resistant to the salt air, light and strong (potentially, it will face typhoon-strength winds).

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Below

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Examples of composite building facades.

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Double click image to enlarge.

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(note, these facades have NOT been built by Triac Composites. They are shown below for illustrative purposes only.