Hunter Douglas Contract Introduces Internationally Renowned Façade System to the U.S. (release)
05 September, 2008
Press Contact:
Rowland Hobbs
DMD
646-442-4314
Hunter Douglas Contract Introduces Internationally Renowned Façade System to the U.S.
Innovative Rainscreen Technology Provides Unsurpassed Design Aesthetics and Sustainable Design
Salt Lake City, UT (May 15, 2008) – Hunter Douglas Contract is introducing its revolutionary rainscreen façade system to the US market. Extensively used in Europe, this façade system blends beautiful aesthetics with superior technology to create high-performance exteriors. Designed with sustainability in mind, rainscreen construction can effectively reduce the energy consumption of a building and prevent water damage. Through these benefits, Hunter Douglas rainscreen systems offer architects and builders tools to address key environmental concerns without sacrificing building aesthetics.
According to Boyd Goodson, general manager of Hunter Douglas Façades, “By combining operational excellence with a strong focus on design flexibility through a partnership with 3form, Hunter Douglas Façades offer architects a means to achieve highly expressive façade design without sacrificing performance.”
The Rainscreen Difference
Compared to the traditional wet/caulked systems, rainscreen systems offer more control over solar gain and increased moisture control, while enabling a flexible design. The rainscreen system minimizes heat loss by providing an insulating layer, reducing the building’s overall maintenance costs. Additionally, condensation is wicked away from the interior walls, helping to eliminate potential water damage that can cause need for structural repairs.
Through the use of a double wall or ventilated façade, the rainscreen system provides an equilibrium of air pressure within the air cavity of the system and the outside of the building’s envelope, which prevents water penetration into the adjoining wall and surrounding elements. This air cavity also eliminates an extensive amount of thermal bridging, reducing the building’s energy consumption. Additionally, existing structures can be efficiently reclaimed by retrofitting them with high-performance rainscreen façades.
How the Hunter Douglas Façade Substructure Works
The Quadroclad™ Rainscreen System is a proprietary rainscreen system and engineered substructure that has been used extensively by Hunter Douglas in varied climates around the world.
Quadroclad™ Rainscreen Systems allow architects the flexibility to create unique designs that work hard and continue to perform even in severe environmental conditions. Hunter Douglas exterior façades have been in continuous use for over 40 years around the world in extreme climate conditions.
The ability to combine panels made of aluminum, glass and resin materials within the same rainscreen system offers an innovative solution to creating an interesting façade:
• Lightweight aluminum panels offer non-combustible, corrosion-free material with unparalleled flatness at a large scale. Custom color, sizes and shapes are available to achieve the ideal design.
• Frameless glass panels – with options for silk-screening, fritting and more – allow limitless combinations of transparent and opaque colored glass, particularly versatile for re-cladding an existing structure. The unique Quadroclad™ installation system avoids the difficulty of point-supported solutions.
• Resin panels developed in collaboration with 3form offer varying degrees of translucency and flexibility in color, light and shape. Made with 40% recycled content, this resin panel features ecoglass PC, a high-impact polycarbonate.
Hunter Douglas Façades: Enabling Expressive Façades without Sacrificing Performance
Through new choices in materials, color, light transmission and shape, Hunter Douglas Contract Façades offer unsurpassed creativity in design with a pre-engineered solution.
About Hunter Douglas
For more than 80 years, the architecture and design community has specified contract products from Hunter Douglas, the world leader in window coverings and a major manufacturer of architectural products. A tradition of bringing breakthrough products to market makes Hunter Douglas and its divisions the choice for an array of innovative contract solutions.
To learn more about Hunter Douglas Contract Façades call 877-994-6246 or visit www.hunterdouglascontract.com/façades
