Northern Hospital Multi-Deck Carpark, Epping VIC

This Vertical Façade is an architectural work of art!

Aluminium Barossa Series® battens are powder coated in a colour gradient of neutral greys with pops of green to create a graphic facade and architectural work of art.

MGS Architects incorporated traffic motifs into the design to provide clear wayfinding for vehicular and pedestrian entry points and vertical circulation. To incorporate the angular and rounded graphics into the façade, the battens were spliced, powder coated in the selected colours, and reconnected to look like a continuous blade.

The combination of custom folded 2mm aluminium ‘Z’ purlins with unequal angles were required to provide screening to the carpark, while also meeting the stringent facade open area requirements.  The design team aimed to avoid any additional mid-span structural support, alongside minimising concerns around vibration that could lead to reverberation and wind-induced noise.

Kane Constructions initiated discussions with Louvreclad at early design stage, which enabled us to provide initial engineering and design advice. Louvreclad then worked closely with Kane Constructions and MGS Architects to find a solution that is both practical and achieves the architectural intent.

The challenge was to increase the stiffness of the vertical façade screen profile and conceal methods of support to reduce potential vibration, while maintaining the pitch of the battens to ensure 51% facade open area.

Employing state of the art CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) and FEA engineering software, we were able to simulate different wind scenarios to test how they affected various aluminium profiles.

Our capability to complete this in-house, made the design process efficient. In turn, this led to a successful solution which met all requirements, while addressing potential concerns about vibration and wind noise. We then engaged an external wind tunnel facility to confirm the results.

The final vertical façade design solution called for three different blade profiles, six panel types, and seven powder coat colours. Each individual profile had to be plotted by colour to match architectural intent, meaning each panel was unique. Louvreclad understands that with a design like this, the set out of blade types, panels, and powder coat colours is critical. Upon design approval, our production team drew from years of experience and expertise to ensure a smooth delivery from manufacture to installation.