Cambridge Architectural, Cambridge, Md., provided a Solucent woven metal mesh application that offers the first-of-its-kind exterior shading and daylighting system that dramatically reduces solar heat gain and cooling costs for a new facility on the University of Washington’s South Lake Union Campus, Seattle.
Completed in spring 2008, the facility is a part of UW Medicine’s new research hub dedicated to developing new interdisciplinary initiatives and leading the nation in biomedical research. Cambridge’s Solucent mesh application was installed over the windows on the building’s exterior façade to provide a unique and modern aesthetic while contributing to substantial energy savings through solar shading.
“We chose Cambridge mesh because, through energy analysis, we were able to prove that the metal fabric panels reduced the solar heat gain into the building on the west and south façades, lowering our cooling loads to the building,” said Andrew Clinch, architect with Perkins+Will, Seattle.
The Solucent system provides transparency so people inside the building can see out, allowing it to shade the sun without blocking the view through the windows.
“Cambridge’s mesh provided just the right veil for the building,” Clinch said. “It is a lightweight and elegant material that successfully balances shading properties and transparency.”
The UW Medicine Building team took advantage of Solucent’s unique system design, which utilizes long spans of mesh to minimize the number of protrusions through the building’s curtainwall.
The Solucent system was fabricated with mesh in Cambridge’s Mid-Balance pattern, which features large-scaled, flexible open weaves that shade and screen structures. The system was installed with Cambridge’s Scroll tension attachment hardware.
Benson Industries, Portland, Ore., was the contractor and installer for the project.
Cambridge Architectural
