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Double skin facade: Twice as nice with metal

How do you make a building cool on the outside and the inside? A double skin facade is the latest fashionable accessory in modern architecture, as architects and designers realise two can be better than one for energy-efficiency, interior comfort, design and aesthetic appeal.

Capable of offering significant savings in a building’s heating, lighting, cooling and ventilation costs, together with privacy screening and acoustic control benefits, a double skin facade has much more than just a couple of advantages.

Double skin facade design

A growing trend in green building strategy, a double skin facade typically features a glazed inner facade, insulating space then a further facade that’s made of other material such as metal, that acts as an external protection screen.

Some double skin facade systems are fully integrated, with the outer skin able to adapt and move, shielding the building according to solar energy and weather conditions.

But the beauty of a double skin facade is the sheer flexibility. A conventional, concrete block can be transformed into an incredible architectural creation through its outer wrapping, allowing architects to cover the old and create the new without significant rebuild costs.

And there’s no better way to achieve the ‘wow’ factor than with perforated metal. Wayside Chapel at Potts Point is a great example of the statement a double-skin façade can make. The Arrow Metal team created the custom perforated metal façade featuring the church’s motto, which envelops the glass inner skin.

A beautiful and personal welcome for visitors, the uplifting motto can also be viewed from inside the building.

Why perforated metal for double skin facade?

Perforated metal adds a whole new dimension to building design when used in a double skin facade:

• Endless perforation designs are possible, from custom-created bespoke shapes and patterns to standard perforations and geometric designs
• Perforated metal sheets can be folded to create incredible 3D ‘creased’ facades
• Extensive choice of colours and finishes, including metallic and weathered effects
• Additional coatings which increase durability to last a building’s structural life
• Wealth of metal materials, including stainless steel and aluminium –choose the metal according to a building’s environmental conditions such as corrosive, marine locations
• Proven environmental benefits – sustainably made and allows precise control of light and airflow, whilst also deflecting heat and solar radiation from the sun.

Inspirational double skin facade designs

Feeling inspired? Take a look at our new Pinterest board featuring some of the best double skin facade designs with metal and the architects behind them.

There’s the copper, scaly skin of an Arizona medical centre, the delicate lattice facade of a residential apartment block in Kolkata, India and the transformation of a 1950’s shopping mall into modern times using an aluminium perforated metal double skin facade.

For facade specifying advice and details of our perforated metal capabilities, chat to the Arrow Metal team on (02) 9748 2200 or send us an online enquiry.  Or browse through some of our completed facade projects.