CompositesWorld
Issue link: https://cw.epubxp.com/i/517026
CompositesWorld.com 45 NEWS N E W S N S N E W S E N W S W High-Rise FRP fact that, increasingly, architects such as Oslo, Norway-based frm Snøhetta, the designer of the SFMOMA expansion, are choosing to enlist potential subcontractors long before anything gets built. "Subcontractors are retained through a design-assist contract," Kreysler explains, "to work out the myriad design and construction details in collaboration with the architect." Te goal is to explore issues and alternatives during the design phase, so that once construction begins, cost and schedule targets can be maintained. Kreysler adds that it was no small matter: "We had one employee working full-time for eight months, just on this." To see the impact this early involvement had on the façade manu- facturing process, it is necessary to understand high-rise building construction and where the FRP panels ft in. Typically, this building type begins with a foundation on which a structural frame of steel columns and beams is erected. Concrete slab foors are poured to the edges of the steel columns and beams, and in the space between the slabs, exterior weatherproof barrier walls — typically gypsum board faced with rubber — are erected. "Tis is pretty ugly," notes Kreysler, "so in order to have an aesthetic fnish, they put up a rain screen." US high-rise first: FRP building envelope The SFMOMA expansion boasts the most extensive use of FRP in an US archi- tectural building project, to date, with more than 700 panels, totaling 7804m 2 , forming a 10-story curved façade. Source (left) | Snøhetta / Source (above) | Felix Weber/Arup Variable surfaces, flat backs These foil-coated foam molds with corresponding FRP parts lying on top show how edge return distance varied not only for each panel, but even on the left vs. the right side of each panel. Source | Kreysler & Associates Flat back to attach to Enclos wall system (edge return distance reduced, left to right) Undulating FRP rain-screen panel surface Foil-coated, machined EPS mold