Unique, pioneering architecture never fails to inspire, but the team behind each project is only capable of realising the ideas in the blue prints if the construction materials are up to the task.
3M architecture
3M Dyneon Fluoroplastic ETFE has made the stunning translucent cushioned façade of a new sports and leisure centre in Montpellier, France, a reality thanks to its high performance characteristics.
Christened Le Nuage - French for the Cloud - by operators the ROXIM Group, the amazing cloud frontage spans a width of 60 m from the first floor of the building, to a height of 17 m, giving the building an unusual lightness.
3M Dyneon Fluoroplastic ETFE is used worldwide in an ever-increasing number of new commercial and public buildings, because the light architecture opens up new degrees of freedom for an innovative language of forms in architecture.
Le Nuage rests on a concrete base, above which the film cushions appear to float , spanning 3,000 m sq. The cushions consist of three layers of NOWOFLON® ET 6235Z film. Nowofol Kunststoffprodukte GmbH & Co. KG extruded them from the high performance material Dyneon ETFE. This material is extremely resistant to chemical influences of all kinds and conforms to fire class B1 according to DIN 4102. The films made from it are very resistant to tearing and to UV radiation. The weight per unit area is only five per cent that of glass and therefore more delicate support structures are sufficient to support structural weight. Indeed, in the case of Le Nuage, the
static requirements are 40 to 60 per cent lower compared to a glass construction. In addition, the surface of the films is so smooth that a normal rain shower is enough to clean them to a large extent.
The Spanish specialist for textile facades, IASO SA, assembled the films and mounted them on the shaped metal frames according to the architect’s specifications. The largest cushion is 18 m long and 6.5 m high. The two outer films are 300 micrometres thick, the middle film 150 micrometres. A pneumatic pressure of 250 Pascal curves the films outwards. This gives the facade a flexible, three-dimensional shape that is more reminiscent of clouds. During the warm season, the pressure generation is converted to natural ventilation and the air is heated to 42 degrees Celsius.
ETFE films are highly transparent and let more than 90 per cent of the sunlight through. Nowofol printed a special geometrical pattern on the films for Le Nuage. In the case of strong sunlight, as is usual on the Mediterranean coast in summer, the pneumatic pressure presses the internal film closer towards the outer film. The printed patterns on the two films complement each other to form a shadow over the entire surface in order to prevent strong heating of the building. In this way the southern and western facades achieve a reduction in solar irradiation of more than 50 per cent. As a result, the energy requirement for the air conditioning of the building is reduced considerably in summer.