On a typical metal panel building, the metal stud comes all the way out to the molding and therefore breaks the insulation. This interruption causes a continuous thermal break that allows more hot and cold transfer through the building’s envelope.
The College of DuPage’s Homeland Security Training Institute uses a more thermally efficient Midland, Mich.-based
Dow Building Solutions’ THERMAX wall system (2-inch aluminum-faced polyisocyanurate attached to 16-gauge cold-formed steel studs with 1.5 inches of Dow THERMAX spray foam insulation). The fastener, designed by Larson Engineering, Naperville, Ill., goes through the insulation and into the structural metal studs directly behind it. The screw acts as a cantilever as it goes out to capture the metal panel system that is 2.5 inches away from it.
The fastener choice allowed the design team to remove Z girts, resulting in continuous insulation and reduced thermal transfer. The enclosure features a combination of Santa Monica, Calif.-based Oldcastle BuildingEnvelope‘s Vistawall curtainwall system with Auburn Hills, Mich.-based Guardian Industries Corp.‘s low-E glazing and Cedar Rapids, Iowa-based
Metal Design Systems Inc.‘s aluminum panels over a Dow THERMAX system. Using the THERMAX system also simplified design and streamlined construction.
Legat Architects Inc., Chicago, was the architect of record for the Homeland Security Training Institute at the College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, Ill. The 66,000-square-foot center is the first of its kind in the Midwest. The facility prepares multi-jurisdictional emergency personnel to respond to international and domestic terrorist acts as well as man-made and natural disasters.
Cross Section Image Courtesy of Legat Architects; PHOTO: JAMES STEINKAMP, STEINKAMP PHOTOGRAPHY