Buildings Façades
The BMW world
building in Munich,
Germany, has a 36,700
sq m integrated façade
T
he time of the mechanical engineer is upon us.
According to some experts, it is essential that
this discipline is involved from the start of any
design project to ensure the façade performs
correctly.
So says Sean Affleck of Make Architects: “M&E
specialists are vital for façade design as their early
involvement allows us to integrate the building
services with solid façades.
“A few years ago, structural engineers jumped in
and took the lead, but now it’s [the turn of mechanical
engineers] because the façade is the biggest influence
on the services and vice versa,” Affleck told a recent
Society of Façade Engineering conference.
It is commonplace in Germany for there to be
collaboration between different engineering disciplines
to deliver better façade design, and also for wider use of
façades with integrated heating and cooling systems.
However, this kind of collaboration is a rarity in the
UK despite the similar weather conditions, according
to experts.
John Ahern of the Royal Institution of British
Architects believes the British approach to design is
holding back the wider use of integrated façade. “If you
are going to use an integrated façade you must design
John Ahern of the Royal Institution
of British Architects believes
the British approach to design
is holding back the wider use of
integrated facades
it in from the outset, but because of our construction
process you rarely get services experts involved early
enough,” he says. “It also requires clients to pay more
money up front for more detailed testing early in the
project.”
The planning process is also seen by some as a
hindrance to this approach. It is relatively easy for
the big, signature architects to get planning approval
for something innovative like an integrated façade,
but it is harder for smaller practices to demonstrate
buildability on more run-of-the-mill projects.
The lack of competition in the market is also a
problem as specifiers prefer to be able to compare
suppliers’ products and there are very few integrated
façade systems available in the UK, it is argued.
However, architectural practice Josef Gartner has
been supplying this type of solution to the German
market for more than 40 years. Bernhard Rudolf,
an architect with the firm, points to the success of a
37,600 sq m integrated façade installed in the BMW
???????
World building in Munich. This steel frame façade
includes heating, sprinklers and electrical services.
He says this type of curtain walling can deliver
better heat and cool-air distribution, as well as more-
even temperatures across the occupied space because >
www.cibsejournal.com April 2009 CIBSE Journal 39
CIBSEapr09 pp38-40 facade.indd 39 2/4/09 15:00:59
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