Metal Cladding on The Living Building | Morin Corp.

The 2020 Metal Architecture Design Awards selected the Kendeda Building for Innovative Sustainable Design (The Living Building) at Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, as the Grand Award winner. The metal-clad building pushes sustainability alongside high-concept design. Serving to clad portions of the exterior are aluminum panels from Morin Corporation in three profiles, one of which is perforated.

Metal Cladding

Selected for its long life, the aluminum cladding panels are useful for their durability and performance with minimal maintenance requirements. The project used bare metal panels from Morin Corp. as a sustainable choice. The aluminum panels can be seen in two distinct formed profiles both with a different choice of gauges:

W-12 | .050 Aluminum	Matrix MX1 | .040 Aluminum
W-12 panels in a vertical orientation are the longer of the two. With their wider flat area, these needed a slightly higher gauge for dimensional stability. This has a good effect on visual consistency in a large wall.	Matrix MX1 panels were used in a shorter, horizontal application, additional bends increase stability and give a smaller visual surface so a lighter gauge could be used for sustainability and cost-savings.

Sustainable Building

A defining element of the building is the solar array canopy; slender steel columns hold a lightweight stepped canopy that lets in light and supports photovoltaics. The shade provided by the canopy significantly reduces the building’s cooling loads and the photovoltaic panels produce 120% of the energy the building requires. Gutters in the roof canopy collect rainwater and bring it back to a 50,000-gallon cistern in the basement, which provides all of the water the building needs.

Project Data