Metal Mesh Cladding Keeps The Sun’s Rays At Bay
Façades are no longer just decorative for buildings; they are now providing substantial benefits in terms of sun control and LEED points. Woven metal mesh fabrics reduce solar-generated heat gain, while providing lighting benefits within a building. Solar management technology allows specifiers to plan ahead for the solar heat gain coefficient (the shading measurement used throughout the U.S.) of a building.
The best way to control the solar heat gain of a building is to intercept the sun before it enters. Metal fabrics provide attractive design elements while attaining desired sunshading and daylighting effects. Energy is saved by reducing the need for interior lighting and cooling maintenance, along with minimizing the costs of air conditioning. Along with the quantifiable benefits, there is also transparency to foster positive indoor environments.
With increasing advancement and benefits of sustainable building in the modern industry, metal fabrics allow architects to easily address the challenge of creating appealing designs while addressing solar management. Metal fabrics are inherently durable and long lasting, but they are more than just resilient to time and weather. Metal fabrics on a number of levels, including boosting the environmental friendliness of a building, improve the function of a façade.
Metal fabrics have been tested in conjunction with a constant glazing for their solar properties in order to calculate an architect’s specified glazing values. This allows the architect to determine the total façade solar heat gain coefficient. Since the fabrics have been tested, the architect can measure the solar heat gain coefficient before specifying a product, preventing any unnecessary design processes. By understanding the visible light transmittance and visible light reflectance, the solar heat gain coefficient can be determined.
The sunshading capabilities of metal fabrics reduce solar heat gain by filtering sufficient sunlight into interior spaces, to utilize daylighting capabilities without excess. The solar heat gain coefficient measures the solar energy transmittance of a fenestration, or window, as a whole. Cambridge, Md.-based GKD Metal Fabrics offer solar management as a fully quantifiable benefit.
Due to extensive knowledge of the solar properties of the fabrics, GKD can work with architects to determine the glazing value and quantify the solar heat gain. This calculation can help them achieve the necessary heat gain coefficient for the building. Metal fabrics are used in front of the building as a sunshade to reduce heat and temperature on the glass of the building, known as ‘skin’ in the industry, by mitigating the solar gain prior to entry.
For example, at Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, Mich., architects met with GKD to numerically quantify how the metal fabrics were performing. Temperature readings determined that the difference between areas shaded by metal fabrics and areas in contact with direct sunlight was 13 percent. The shaded area was 82˚F, while the curtain wall exposed to the sun read at 94˚F. The wall shaded by a metal fabric facade had a lower temperature due to metal fabrics’ ability to reduce heat from solar gain, yet the room was still lit with natural sunlight.
LEED points are achieved through the use of metal fabrics in a number of ways, being both eco-friendly and constructed from completely recyclable materials. GKD metal fabrics endure years of use without requiring replacements that cause hassle, cost and more exhaustion of materials. Should a metal fabrics façade cease to be needed for any reason, the 100 percent recycled stainless steel fabric can be put to use once again in another setting, rather than languishing amongst post-consumer waste material. With additional performance benefits that allow filtered sunlight to replace artificial lighting, metal fabrics avoid further energy expenditure. GKD Metal Fabrics allow for the most desirable balance of illumination from direct sun without resulting in bothersome heat, so that rooms are well lit without needing superfluous air conditioning that drive up cooling costs.
With wider weft and warp, the fabrics will allow more light to penetrate the building. The flexibility of its weave makes it an excellent choice for allowing natural air ventilation, which helps to maintain a building’s temperature. The tighter the weave, the more the sun will be shaded. Design processes become more efficient when the solar heat gain coefficient is quantified during specification, because the measurement is assured to meet the building requirements. Metal fabrics can improve façade utility across the board by keeping the sun’s rays at bay.
Tom Bialk, Beyond The Weave, GKD USA
Tom Bialk is a designer and engineer at GKD-USA, Cambridge, Md. With a degree in architectural engineering from Delaware Tech, he has over 20 years’ experience in the field of design, building and engineering. Bialk specializes in solar management applications and the analytics that allow GKD engineers to pre-determine the quantifiable benefits of using metal fabrics.
Contact Email: tomb@gkdusa.com