Aluminium door and window systems offer architects an easy way to introduce unique designs to any residential or commercial property. Andrew Cross at Kestrel Aluminium Systems explains how
Architects are, by definition, creative thinkers inspired by the way buildings affect our day-to-day lives, and how we live. People become architects because they want to have a lasting impact on the built environment, designing ever-more creative and unique spaces that offer something special and beyond the norm of typical newbuild properties.
To create these outstanding buildings, architects need modern construction products and methods that will allow their designs to be built safely, economically and, increasingly these days, sustainably.
That means, when designing their next project, they need to consider the limitations of the materials they are specifying, and should prioritise the use of those products and systems that offer the flexibility and reliability that enable them to realise their ideas.
Keep it strong & flexible
Using aluminium doors and windows gives architects and the rest of the building supply chain a flexible material that is also inherently strong and thermally efficient.
Despite the established success of traditional steel and PVCu systems, aluminium windows and doors are lightweight and durable, which gives architects much more flexibility when it comes to the size and shape of the windows, doors and curtain walling systems that they can use.
This is thanks to aluminium’s incredibly light weight; just 2.7g/cm3 and around three times lighter than steel. This makes it much easier to transport and move on site than traditional fenestration materials. Aluminium is also a much softer metal, so it is more malleable and easier to form into a myriad of different sizes, designs and shapes to suit any architect’s vision, while remaining strong enough to support even large pieces of glass.
Given the current and ongoing trend for buildings with large walls of glass to allow maximum light to penetrate the building’s structure, this move towards aluminium is likely to continue for a long time to come.
This is why architects would be wise to specify products from trusted manufacturers who offer a wide range of aluminium door and window systems that provide true flexibility of design, and whose products meet the exacting standards of the modern construction industry.
This is particularly true when working with commercial buildings, where the opportunities for unique design are almost limitless. Architects should choose a manufacturer who offers doors as either single or double door sets as well as a range of style and rail options. A choice of configurations including finger guard, manual centre pivot, auto centre pivot, manual slide, auto slide and rebated options can also help architects ensure their building will stand out.
Further personalisation can be provided since a number of manufacturers, including Kestrel Aluminium Systems, offer in-house single or dual-colour powder coatings in RAL colours as required, so that the building can be finished in any colour the architect prefers.
Meeting sustainability needs
Another benefit of using aluminium windows and doors is the systems’ sustainability benefits. Architects are increasingly being asked by their clients to factor whole-life costs into their designs, as well as what will happen to the raw materials in a building once the building has reached the end of its useful life.
Unlike many of the other raw materials used for these systems, aluminium can be recycled many times without loss of quality and, because of its low melting point, very little energy is required to extract the raw material and transform it into another product.
In fact, using recycled aluminium saves up to 95% of the energy required for primary aluminium production.
This makes it an extremely sustainable product that has a much lower carbon footprint during manufacture, something that is becoming ever more important as the construction industry moves towards a low-carbon, zero-waste solution.
Aluminium products made using recyclable materials present consistently low environmental impacts while offering strength, durability, stability and reduced weight compared to steel. Among other benefits it has to offer, natural corrosion and UV resistance enable the specifier to forecast with accuracy the cost of maintenance over a system’s design life.
So, for those specifying metal window and door systems, there is clearly an incentive to use a raw material that can be reused on an almost infinite basis. In terms of enabling building designs to achieve the highest level of BREEAM certification, aluminium can also provide tangible benefits when calculating a building’s environmental, social and economic sustainability levels, using standards developed by the Building Research Establishment. In addition, aluminium also enhances specific aspects of a window or door’s technical performance, such as its thermal, acoustic and energy efficiency.
To achieve greater efficiency in terms of thermal transmittance, high performance window and door design is becoming increasingly sophisticated. As already stated, aluminium can be formed into complex and diverse profile shapes, a feature that makes it ideal for contemporary architectural design.
Aluminium’s permanence, its flexibility and versatility will pave the way for products of increasing environmental value. If we add to this the widely accepted ecological argument against the use of PVCu and the tangible evidence of the sustainability and thermal performance provided by aluminium window and door systems, with a design life that has already spanned several decades, the case for the use of aluminium window and door systems has never been stronger.
Andrew Cross is marketing manager of Kestrel Aluminium Systems