Category: Plastic facade panels

The Threat Posed By UV Rays To A Colored Façade

Posted on by Danpal

When a building design and a colored façade join forces, the end result is brilliant and beguiling architecture. A building’s façade system doesn’t merely enhance the performance of a structure. Who can resist the allure of bold reds, cool blues, brilliant yellows? Whether it’s located in a residential or commercial area, a building that boasts a colored façade sheeting design is going to attract positive attention. No one wants to work or live in a building whose dull colors are proof that it has seen better days and is now well past its prime. Color gives a building life.

Why does color have such a powerful effect? Perhaps it’s because color is not only visual. Color communicates the language of a building. When color is combined with texture, finish, light, and shadow, it takes on versatility, conveying a message that may be subtle or dramatic, lively or calming, traditional or contemporary. That message is an architectural marketing tool for the structure. What is your color façade saying to the world?

Identifying The Threats To Colored Facades

Of course, there are considerations that need to be evaluated during the process of choosing the colored façade that’s right for your structure, particularly how to reduce the effects of fading that UV rays can cause, making once-brilliant tones turn drab and dull.

The sun that we love can also be the UV threat that buildings hate. Colors make a creative statement that gives a building its own personality. Intense colors like reds and blues are striking to the eye. However, colors are vulnerable to the elements. Certainly wind, rain, and cold weather are harsh on a structure, but so is sunlight. A colored façade design, those ventilated layers of plastic, polycarbonate, glass, wood, and metal that create a three-dimensional impression, also is vulnerable to the effects of the elements. In fact, UV rays can not only cause colors to fade, but also have the ability to inflict fundamental deterioration to the sheeting material itself.

We can’t just blame the weather for the fading that can take place over time. Humans have to accept some of the blame. The pollution that causes harm to our respiratory systems and threatens peril to the environment is also an enemy to the inanimate structures in which we live and work and play. Pollution robs colored facades of their dynamic appearance over time. The grime that coats a surface leads to dullness until a once-brilliant red erodes into a drab pink. When that happens, a building that was once an eye-catching asset to a community begins to look tired and worn, diminishing the appearance of the entire neighborhood.

The colors that make the boldest statement—red, blue, yellow—are also those that are the most likely to fade from the effects of UV rays. Unfortunately, UV radiation is brutal on pigmentation.

Danpal R&D Supports Long Life For Colored Facades

It’s significant that Danpal, the company that has blazed an innovative path in the construction industry for over half a century, maintains a presence on five continents. Experiencing weather on five continents teaches engineers and designers a lot about how to match materials to weather zones. In order to assist a translucent façade in the maintaining of its color brilliance, Danpal products are manufactured to meet the specific demands of their different environmental factors. Products may be adapted for hot or cool climates in dry or wet regions. In order to choose materials that will give the colors of a façade system a longer life, choose Danpal products. We know our colors and we know how to make them last!

The Importance of Color Specification for Facades Design

Posted on by Danpal

As often as we make decisions based upon color specification—a new car, a new dress, new living room furniture, even a pair of shoes—we often still fail to realize how our assessment of a product is intricately connected to our own personality. Color has meaning. In many Western cultures, black symbolizes mourning and death. Mourning in Eastern societies is often noted by the color white which, in the West, is a traditional preference for wedding gowns. What’s the reason for these dramatic differences in color perceptions? First of all, color preferences are subjective. . You may love the color blue, but can you explain why? You see the difficulty that can arise when a client tries to explain personal color preferences in terms of architecture. A design can’t come to fruition based solely on a fondness for the color blue. Color specification and architecture can, when external attributes such as cultural influences, environmental factors, and even energy efficiency are appropriately weighed in, yield a stunning result that performs its functional role while satisfying esthetic expectations.

Color Specification And Double Skin Facades

We see with our eyes, but our eyes see with our brains. That’s why an architect is charged with creating a design that matches our needs and wants with the purpose of a structure. While the proposed function of a building determines its intrinsic design, color specification is still a significant consideration when assessing how the structure will blend into its particular environment and how it will be used by the occupants. A gymnasium will have a very different appearance from a boutique, for example, and yet, even with these decidedly different structures, there are areas in which color specification matters.

Architectural innovation embarked upon a new direction in the twentieth century with the development of double skin facades. In this process, a building’s enclosing wall is separated from the structure, giving the architect greater flexibility in developing the design. As consumers prioritized energy efficiency and personal comfort, the popularity of double skin facades accelerated. The results include improved thermal insulation, a healthier environment through natural ventilation, expanded use of natural light, and a reduction in the demand for heating and cooling.

As the functional aspects of architectural curtain wall and cladding improve a building’s energy efficiency, color specification improves its esthetic appeal. Again, the human brain reacts to the allure of color in very different ways, making this dimension one which develops a new direction for architects and their design.

The Influence Of Color Specification

Architecture is influenced by the varying perceptions that we have of color. As we have noted, architects employ color to add to a building’s attractiveness by appealing to the human affinity for beauty. Color affects our mood and our productivity and can even affect their personal wellbeing.

Through the deliberate application of color, a building’s exterior can either catch the eye of passers-by or subtly blend into the surrounding area. Muted colors make a surface seem larger; vivid colors shrink the dimensions.

Certain colors automatically trigger dynamic attention. Bold, bright red summons a response. Yellow is a popular choice of color for day care centers and elementary schools where children respond to its brightness and cheer. Studies have shown that blue has calming properties that can actually lower blood pressure. Blue light, which slows the production of melatonin, increases alertness. Because it is so often used for external cladding and internal office space, it conjures an impression of depth. Nature lovers who spend their days in office buildings welcome the color green, which is also a restful color. Likewise, brown evokes the natural environment. White, a clean, pure color, has a special popularity for architects and their clients. Achromatic gray, sometimes seen as not a color at all, evokes a sense of balance. Black is a powerful color with both visual and emotional effects on viewers.

Color specification is one of the building blocks of an architect’s design. Through the use of color, an architect creates a structure which not only inspires attention, but also has the power to improve human wellbeing.

See How Color Enhances The Appeal Of Building Facades

Posted on by Danpal

When an architect is hired to design building façades, the question of what might be your favorite color isn’t likely to be the first one asked. Yet, color is such an important aspect of architectural design and it plays a distinct role in the ultimate appearance of the structure. Color is not just the reds, blues, and yellows that we see on an artist’s palette. Color is built upon shade, light, texture, and finishes that render a building unique and give it its own personality. Danpal’s polycarbonate facades are renowned for both the strength that enables them to stand up to the weather elements and for their dazzling array of colors that rival the rainbow. We invite you to learn more about how expanding your understanding of color will help you make the better choice when it comes to choosing building facades.

Considering The Role Of Color In Building Facades

Gone is the boring architecture of a bygone era where color seemed to play no part in the architectural vision of a community or in iconic buildings. Not so today, where a building’s exteriors and interiors come alive with shades and finishes that transform light and color into a brilliant canvas. By uniting a building material with specific choices of color, building facades redefine the range of artistic options in architectural design.

How Color Gives Building Facades Their Unique Appearance

Color is a visual impression. Color is a temperature. Color is a state of mind. Color is all of these things and more, which means that building facades and their use of color can turn a structure into the focal point of its setting. On its own, a polycarbonate façade is simply a construction that’s remarkable for its impact resistance, for being both lighter and stronger than glass, and for being so easy to work with. But when it’s embellished with color, and nuances are added with shade, building facades made of polycarbonate are as aesthetically appealing as they are durable. Color itself is flexible enough to change depending upon how light, shade, sheen and other colors affect the ultimate product. The appearance of building facades differs depending upon how it interacts with light and texture; a smooth surface will scatter light differently from a rough surface.

How Architects Make Their Color Decisions

Colors don’t exist in a vacuum. Instead, they respond to each other. The color scheme for a building façade processes all the details—solar gain, esthetics, materials—that build upon the attributes of a polycarbonate façade. The superior performance of building facades, paired with its visual appeal, deliver a finished product that enhances both a residential and a commercial landscape. Danpal’s expertise in the building industry is based upon the cutting-edge innovation of our products, and the deep understanding of the subjective role that aesthetics plays in making those important decisions about building facades.

The Way Color Influences Energy Efficiency In Building Facades

In the same way that you’re unlikely to dress in solid black on a day when the forecast predicts hot, humid weather, your building can’t operate at maximum efficiency if it’s not wearing the right colors. If an exterior wall is dark, it can absorb as much as 70 to 90 percent of radiant sun energy. But with façade paints, solar gain can be reduced the use of heat-reflective technology. What’s going on inside a building is definitely affected by how it’s handling the weather taking place outside. Put your polycarbonate façade to the best use by making color part of your overall energy plan!

With polycarbonate for strength and color for appearance, the building facades that adorn structures are a perfect marriage between esthetics and performance. Finding an answer to the question “What’s your favorite color?” will take you on an architectural artistic journey!

Smart Plastic Sheeting And Danpalon Systems Making Buildings Better

Posted on by Danpal

Danpal, with over half a century of cutting-edge expertise in the building industry, has nurtured the advance of smart plastic sheeting through Danpalon 3DLite and Danpalon Kinetic Systems. In order for a building to hold up against the elements of weather, while providing the utmost in comfort and energy efficiency, it needs to be made out of materials that are both smart and strong. The installation of polycarbonate panels made of Danpalon® Microcell polycarbonate panels with extrusion technology can reinforce the strength of a structure, as much as ten times more cells than most of the other polycarbonate panels available for purchase. When architectural design unites the most modern structural advances with the ageless appeal of sunlight, buildings and their occupants, and the planet, reap the benefits.

Smart Plastic Sheeting And Danpalon 3DLite

Smart plastic sheeting is, of course, a testimony to the advances that have been made in building materials. Daylight is rarely viewed as a building material and yet, with the innovative Danpalon 3DLite, natural light can be optimized so that architects can combine design and creativity. The results not only increase the efficiency of lighting but also contribute to enhanced energy efficiency. Alternating integrated shading louvres selectively manipulate the admission of sunlight throughout the day. This provides an additional advantage in the form of thermal insulation, which addresses personal comfort and environmental responsibility, and physical appearance, which appeals to the aesthetic senses. The Danpal building tradition combines function with beauty to deliver maximum satisfaction.

Optimizing daylight in architecture as varied as shopping malls, schools, and stadiums, 3DLITE is a cost-effective solution thanks to the alternating louvres that balance light during the daylight hours. Natural light has another facet that can be optimized when heat is reduced. The sun’s rays, allowed to enter at higher levels in morning and afternoon, lower the heat in midday. This carefully designed system of daylight architecture creates an intricate, yet simple, bond with nature.

Strong And Smart Polycarbonate Sheeting

The harnessing of natural light is the result of innovation and research on the part of Danpal’s expert engineering and design team. Advances such as smart plastic sheeting which lead to greater energy efficiency are matched by Danpalon® Microcell polycarbonate panels, which offer high impact resistance. The high concentration of cells supports improved mechanical properties. The tight spacing between the vertical supports contributes to the superior quality of light which is enjoyed by the occupants of interior living and working spaces.

Danpal technology brings together the aesthetic aspects of optimized natural light and the environmental advantages of energy conservation. Smart plastic sheeting, with the versatile properties of polycarbonate, is the building material for twenty-first century architecture.

Danpalon Kinetic And The Attributes Of Smart Plastic Panels

As is the case with Danpalon 3DLITE, Danpalon Kinetic furthers the harmony of a structure’s physical function, its responsiveness to the needs of the environment, and the amazing capacity of smart technology to take a building to the next level of innovation. Smart polycarbonate sheeting is as much a part of the modern architectural world as the natural light which predates all that we know about construction.

Who would ever have predicted that plastic panels would be able to meet the demands of thermal insulation, the transmission of light, and even the reduction of sound?

With Danpalon® Kinetic, the interplay of light and color creates animated facades that, with typical Danpal creativity, unleash the power of light with unexpected brilliance. Buildings are expected to provide shelter and comfort for the occupants within their walls. But Danpalon® Kinetic doesn’t just take care of the ones inside. With the dazzling light show that the building offers externally, even those who are outside the walls can enjoy the light show!

Outdoor Plastic Sheets Made Of Polycarbonate Can Stand Up To Weather

Posted on by Danpal

When you consider the effects of weather and the elements, it makes sense to put some thought into the best type of outdoor plastic sheets that we should choose. For all the beauty of nature and its many charms, no one can deny that weather can be brutal. That’s why it’s so important to choose outdoor plastic sheets that are strong enough to stand up to weather. Maybe you have weatherproof plastic sheets, but what about UV rays? With all the details that need to be considered, we can offer some of the information that you’re going to need as you make your choice.

Polycarbonate Versus Other Outdoor Materials

It wasn’t that long ago when the materials that were used for outdoor applications—wood, metal, and of course glass—were limited by their own weaknesses. How could these materials, which were vulnerable to the punishment that weather delivers, possible last? As we know, they couldn’t last for long. Wood is extremely susceptible to the rigorous treatment that comes from torrential rains, high winds, heavy snows, and relentless sunshine. After only a year, wood would already be showing the damage that the outdoor elements caused. Glass, of course, is much too fragile to withstand the outdoors for long. An impact could shatter it. That weakness actually makes using glass risky. So what are the options? Fortunately, the arrival of polycarbonate on the scene completely altered the outdoor plastic sheets landscape.

Polycarbonate: The Better Option In Outdoor Plastic Sheets

The impact resistance of polycarbonate gives it a tremendous advantage when its function is to serve as weatherproof plastic sheets. Polycarbonate is used in security glass because it’s bulletproof. So just think about that the next time you hear the sound of hail pounding outside. If polycarbonate can stop a bullet, hail doesn’t stand a chance.

Polycarbonate is as reliable in resisting the harmful effects of sunshine as it is in defeating the more obvious forces of nature. Protective coating makes it UV ray resistant. Even with exposure to direct sunlight over time, polycarbonate weatherproof plastic sheets can be coated so that they resist yellowing. That extends the life of the outdoor plastic sheets. Just imagine how confident you’ll feel, no matter the weather, when you think of how your polycarbonate outdoor plastic sheets stand up to damage from both sun and impact.

Structures Where Polycarbonate Weatherproof Plastic Sheets Can Be Found

Some of our most familiar buildings such as hospitals and schools use outdoor plastic sheets. In addition, these sheets, with their polycarbonate strength, are also durable enough to withstand environments of harsh chemicals.

Another common place for outdoor plastic sheets to be used is in signage. Think of all the signage that you see on a daily basis. These signs are often in prominent locations on a building. Naturally, they’re exposed to the elements. But if you have weatherproof plastic sheets made of polycarbonate, you don’t have to worry that your signs will need replacing frequently.

Why You’ll Do Better With Polycarbonate Outdoor Plastic Sheets

To summarize, here are the reasons why you’re likely to turn to polycarbonate when selecting your weatherproof plastic sheets:

  1. Durability that can stand up to the harshest weather elements.
  2. Excellent transmission of light combined with UV protection so that sunlight is fun light without the risk.
  3. Light in weight makes for easy transportation and installation, saving time, labor, and money.

We all know that weather doesn’t make things easy for us. But with outdoor plastic sheets made of polycarbonate, weather’s power is canceled by polycarbonate’s strength.

Plastic facade panels

Posted on by Danpal

Different building materials, like anything else, enjoy different cycles of popularity.  We’ve come a long way since medieval times when building designers were limited to wood and brick if they were charged with constructing a massive project that would reflect the glory of the reigning monarch.  And as April 2019 fire at Notre Dame Cathedral proved, the stone walls and interior were able to withstand the blaze, but the wooden roof and spire could not. In today’s world, we have more durable materials to work with. One of those materials, polycarbonate, is used to make plastic façade panels that are part of countless Danpal projects. 

The Advantages Of Using Polycarbonate For Plastic Façade Panels

Polycarbonate façade panels must be stronger than the weather that pounds them on a regular basis and polycarbonate, which is 200 times stronger than tempered glass, has shown itself to be resistant to the elements. In fact, when polycarbonate is co-extruded with advanced inhibitors, it has the capacity to last the life cycle of the building. Polycarbonate thermoplastics are used for safety glasses, riot gear, sports equipment and bullet proofing, so that gives you some idea of just how strong they are.  Another advantage of polycarbonate is its flexibility; polycarbonate polymers are able to be curved organically so that they take on the shape of the building. This flexibility displays itself in another unique fashion; although polycarbonate materials are so much stronger than glass, they are actually less than half its weight. 

Plastic Façade Panels And Thermal Efficiency

As a society, we are very conscious of the plight of the environment and energy-conscious consumers strive to do what we can to protect the planet.  Plastic façade panels are one way to do that. When a polycarbonate thermoplastic is extruded into a multicell panel, it’s possible to achieve U-values below 1.0Ug (W/m2.K). Plastic façade panels made with polycarbonate materials can help a building achieve a green rating, something that’s a mark of excellence in our world today.

Contact Danpal to discuss  Polycarbonate Facade Panels using our Danpalon polycarbonate sheets and Danpal Facade Solutions for your next architectural project.

 

Plastic facade panels