As the original Aluminum Composite Material (ACM), ALUCOBOND® has a 50 year history in the Architectural market. The product was created to provide the architectural market with a durable, light-weight panel that was easy to fabricate and handle. The composite structure meant that the sheets could retain flatness while being produced in very large sizes. For many years now, there have been multiple thicknesses of ACM available: 3mm, 4mm, and 6mm.
A unique, glistening origami-like sculptural façade greets guests arriving at a Los Angeles airport hotel via its newly renovated Porte Cochere.
Tasked with transforming the dark, dated façade of the original 1980s-era hotel arrival tunnel, Houston/Tyner, a professional architectural corporation based in Torrance, Calif., wanted to create “a showcase for the boulevard” with the nearly 300-foot long 14,950 square-foot Porte Cochere that spans the entire length of the hotel, according to Russel Tyner, AIA, NCARB, principal architect, Houston/Tyner.
Contribution to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), The LEED program, sponsored by the United States Green Building Council (UGBC), is the primary environmentally focused building certification in the United States. In its Building Design and Construction version, buildings may qualify for various levels of LEED certification based on the total number of points achieved in various categories.
Developed by faculty and students at Virginia Tech Center for Design Research, the FutureHAUS is an exploration in the integration of pre-fabricated, energy efficient and smart home systems for the future of affordable housing. The prototype was unveiled in the 2018 Solar Decathlon Middle East competition, taking home a first-place victory over 14 other selected teams and more than 60 total entrants. The victory comes after years of research in two distinct fields: the industrialization of buildings and integrated construction, and sustainably designed smart home environments.
“It oozes smooth.” This is what 2019 Metal Architecture Design Awards judge Charles Bloszies, FAIA, SE, LEED AP, principal, Office of Charles F. Bloszies FAIA Ltd., San Francisco, says about the C.H. Robinson Midwest Headquarters in Chicago, the smooth metal wall panels award winner. “It undulates in a subtle way. In the class of parametrically modeled transitional shapes this is very controlled and subtle, and I love it.”
For showcasing how metal panels can be leveraged in a transformative retrofit project, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 134 headquarters building in Chicago won the 2019 Metal Architecture Design Award for renovations and retrofits. Metal wall panels were used in the adaptive reuse project to give the building a new identity, express its use and the importance of some spaces. The retrofit completely transformed a 1960s elementary school building into a labor organization’s modern headquarters, which includes a lobby, large meeting hall, offices, meeting rooms, lounges and gymnasium community center.
