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Leisure Management - CLAD kit
CLAD kit
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CLAD kit
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A stained glass window doubles as a green energy source, pollutant-absorbing pavements in Barcelona and an award-winning 50-metre video graphic wall
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3D printing breakthrough
A new approach to 3D printing promises to deliver commercial quality manufactured parts at a much faster rate. Silicon Valley-based Carbon3D’s Continuous Liquid Interface Production (CLIP) technology harnesses light and oxygen to continuously grow objects from a pool of resin instead of printing them layer-by-layer. It says the technique is 25-100 times faster than conventional 3D printing, and can deliver commercial quality objects with consistent mechanical properties. A broad range of polymeric materials can be used to manufacture complex parts. The technique works by carefully balancing the interaction of UV light, which triggers photo polymerisation, and oxygen, which inhibits the reaction, to continuously grow objects from a pool of resin. Carbon3D has partnered with Sequoia Capital and Silver Lake Kraftwerk to raise $41m to commercialise the technology.
CLAD-kit.com keyword: Carbon3D
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Carbon3D technology uses light and oxygen to grow objects from a pool of resin |
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Carbon3D CEO Joseph DeSimone |
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Flashy facades
Hunter Douglas facades offer a wide range of shapes, joint options, materials, finishes and colours. Its Quadroclad range consists of honeycomb core panels with facings in coated or anodized aluminium, zinc and stainless steel. The panels are lightweight and offer a high level of flatness, even on very large panels. Sizes can go up to 1,500mm width x 10m in extreme cases, with a sharp finish and clean lines. A variety of fixing systems are available. MPF, or Multiple Panel Format, offers a plank style, single skin panel in the same range of metals as Quadroclad. It is a versatile panel with widths from 150mm to 600mm x 6m maximum length. Joints can be opened or closed and played to good architectural effect, according to Hunter Douglas.
CLAD-kit.com keyword: Hunter Douglas
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Hunter Douglas offers an array of facade solutions |
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Demonstrating potential
The first and largest powder-based 3D-printed cement structure has been built at a US university. Created to demonstrate the architectural potential of 3D printing, the freestanding pavilion – Bloom – is composed of 840 customised blocks, measures roughly 12ft by 12ft, and is 9ft high. The University of California, Berkeley research team was led by Ronald Rael, associate professor of architecture, who developed a new type of iron oxide-free Portland cement polymer formulation which enabled the 3D printing. “We are mixing polymers with cement and fibres to produce very strong, lightweight, high-resolution parts on readily available equipment; it’s a very precise, yet frugal technique,” said Rael. “This project is the genesis of a realistic, marketable process with the potential to transform the way we think about building a structure.” Siam Cement Group provided the Portland cement, while additional support and materials were provided by Emerging Objects, a startup company co-founded by Rael and Virginia San Fratello, and Entropy Resins.
CLAD-kit.com keyword: Siam Cement
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Bloom, a freestanding 3D-printed cement pavilion, is made of 840 customised blocks |
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Solar powered stained glass
Dutch designer Marjan van Aubel has created a stained glass window that doubles as a clean energy source. In the ‘Current Window’ project, coloured pieces of glass generate electricity from daylight, and can even harness diffused sunlight. The power is then sent to a USB port in the window ledge. The glass pieces are made of ‘dye sensitised solar cells’, which use the properties of colour to create an electrical current — just like photosynthesis in plants, according to van Aubel. As various shades of green chlorophyll absorb light, the coloured window panes harness energy.
CLAD-kit.com keyword: Aubel
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Coloured glass generates energy |
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Smart paving for Barcelona
Pollutant-absorbing pavements and ambient lighting will help turn a Barcelona bridge into a green urban plaza. Spanish architecture firm BCQ is upgrading the Sarajevo Bridge in the Catalonian capital in a bid to turn it into an attractive gateway to the city. The new pavement will use a photocatalytic concrete surface, a self-cleaning material that absorbs air pollutants, converting them into harmless substances. Applied to white or grey cement, the removed pollution is then washed away by the rain. Photo-luminescent elements within the concrete provide a source of ambient light, absorbing solar energy during the day and releasing it at night. The upgraded bridge will be energy self-sufficient, using solar panels that generate the energy consumed by new LED lighting.
CLAD-kit.com keyword: BCQ
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Pollutant-absorbing pavements use self-cleaning photocatalytic concrete surfaces |
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Acoustic sessions
Bringing back the concept of a traditional bandstand, Flanagan Lawrence’s Acoustic Shells project has been recognised with an architecture award. The concrete seaside shelter and bandstand sited in a sunken garden beside the beach in Littlehampton, West Sussex, UK, picked up the AJ Small Projects Special Prize. The visually striking Acoustic Shells have been designed as an architecture that can represent ‘sound’, and the people that made it, according to Flanagan Lawrence. One shell faces the town and forms the principal bandstand. The acoustic design of the interior creates a reflective surface to project the sound of the performers to the audience in the sunken garden. The other shell faces the beach and forms a more intimate shelter for listening to the sound of the sea or for buskers to perform facing the promenade.
CLAD-kit.com keyword: Flanagan Lawrence
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Acoustic Shells doubles as a bandstand and seaside shelter |
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