Archetech Issue 30 2017 | Page 47

SCHUECO PARAMETRIC SYSTEM DELIVERS AFFORDABLE DESIGN FREEDOM Schueco takes design to new heights with a system that makes the exciting possibilities of parametric façades an affordable commercial proposition. While the design opportunities presented by parametric 3D façades have long been seen as excitingly radical, the high cost of the one-off special solutions required to realise them has prevented their breaking out into the architectural mainstream. Schueco’s parametric offering has changed all that. Using Schueco’s Parametric system, 3D façades can, for the first time, be designed as straightforward system solutions whose cost can be calculated with the certainty of a series product. Suddenly all the possibilities inherent in the parametric concept become not impossibly expensive dreams, but eminently achievable goals. Like all Schueco systems, the Parametric façade is highly insulated with U f values up to 0.5 W/m2K; the surface elements are transparent or opaque and sunlight and shading, guided views and daylight optimisation can be used as active design factors. A central element of the Schueco Parametric solution is the continuous, closed digital process chain that operates in all phases of design, planning and fabrication, with the proven Schueco modular system forming the basis for individual designs of façade modules. The result is that interface problems become a thing of the past and a uniform, consistent data model for everyone involved in the process is guaranteed. Schueco planning tools mean that geometrically complex shapes are progressively simplified during planning; establishing rules and connections between individual design elements enables changes to be made more swiftly. This is important because a design that includes, for instance, optimised daylight conditions, sound reduction and protection against unwanted sunlight can quickly become complex as the number of individual façade elements increase. The impressive power of Schueco’s parametric planning tools is evidenced by the extraordinary amount of detailing time they can save: instead of the 24 hours per unit that is currently the norm, this can be reduced to a scarcely believable 8 minutes! With the Parametric system, Schueco has made customer-specific, individualised mass production for free-form façades an affordable reality. For further information on the Schueco Parametric façade system, please email [email protected] or visit www. schueco.co.uk