Aluminum, as a material, is incredibly versatile and has been used in a wide range of products for centuries. In modern construction, aluminum has been tapped as an ideal material for doors and window frames to promote durability, energy efficiency, sustainability, and to manage budget expectations. Compared to other fenestration and dooring materials like wood and vinyl, aluminum offers an environmentally responsible alternative, helping reduce waste, conserve natural resources, and provide long-lasting performance. For the architect, specifying doors and windows of the same material type from a single source for the entire project can offer additional benefits, including consistent design options, reliable supply chain delivery, and a better supported installation. This article examines the unique qualities and benefits of specifying windows and doors from a single source, manufactured with aluminum for residential, commercial, and public building projects. Aluminum extrusions combined with innovative thermal barrier materials save energy, increase healthy indoor air quality, and improve safety, sustainability, and aesthetics. Case studies are incorporated to help provide real-world examples of how using aluminum that is single-sourced for all windows and doors can support both sustainability and project goals.

Photo by Chip Allen Photography; courtesy of All Weather Architectural Aluminum

The Dwight Modern, in Berkeley, Calif., is a mixed-use development highlighted by 99 high-end, modern apartment homes. Aluminum windows and doors complement the contemporary aesthetic while providing durable, low-maintenance finishes.

FLEXIBLE DESIGN DURABLE LONGEVITY

Aluminum remains one of the most specified materials in the residential and construction industry, as its advantages are long-lasting. Durable, flexible, impermeable, and strong, this metal has proven to be an increasingly valuable asset for architects and builders. Aluminum weighs 65 percent less than steel but is 43 times more powerful than wood, and its tensile strength is as high as 90,000 psi. In the age of sustainable design, recycling, and monitoring our collective carbon footprint, aluminum has prevailed as the building material that checks all the right boxes.

For architects, the benefits of specifying aluminum can lead to an expanded creative pallet, more options for sustainable building credits, and a simpler design path. This material offers an array of benefits when it comes to single-source solutions, where both windows and doors are obtained from a single manufacturer. This approach streamlines the construction process, improves lead times, enhances design flexibility, simplifies installation, and provides comprehensive BIM (Building Information Modeling) support.

Aluminum is lightweight, workable, and corrosion-resistant, so it is a great choice for healthy and sustainable buildings. Aluminum is 100 percent recyclable, which is important in reducing construction waste that cannot be reused. Aluminum framing also is growing in popularity in North America because it can support indoor air quality (IAQ). Its ability to combine with other products that enhance air quality in a structure has increased its demand. Aluminum also requires minimum maintenance after installation. In general, periodic washing with soap and water is all that is required, but manufacturers supply specific information as needed.

Aluminum meets sustainability expectations thanks to its environmental advantages. Commercial building developers looking for improved energy efficiency can choose high-performance aluminum windows and doors with a range of profiles and colors, allowing for design capabilities that can support overall appeal and brand. Within these choices, however, a builder will increase the likelihood of success in terms of both aesthetics and sustainability when working with a single manufacturer across all stages of a project.

When it comes to thermal comfort, aluminum windows, and doors serve as part of a larger system. Because aluminum is a conductor of heat, aluminum frames must be equipped with a thermal barrier that prevents heat from flowing inside to outside or vice versa depending on the climate, time of year, or time of day. This is another reason to work with a single manufacturer who can ensure quality control of sourcing throughout construction.

Durability, daylighting, and acoustic performance are other advantages of high-performance aluminum windows and doors. The strength of aluminum enables glass-clad structures to meet wind load provisions. The slimmer profiles of extruded aluminum window and door frames increase the amount of daylight entering the window, sometimes by as much as 20 percent. Reduced sound levels reduce stress in healthcare facilities and improve productivity in workplaces.

In addition, aluminum thermal barrier technology is working even more closely in conjunction with glass, glazing, and envelope materials to reduce commercial building energy consumption. Double- and triple-pane windows and doors are now often filled with inert gases such as argon or krypton to reduce convection within the units and to improve the window or door’s overall energy efficiency. These gases are often known to leak—many times at a rate of just 1 percent a year, which is generally acceptable. However, sometimes if the seals are not sufficient, they will leak faster, thus ruining their contribution toward energy efficiency and necessitating an expensive replacement. Aluminum can be fabricated to extremely close tolerances to create precise forms for the insertion of glazing, weather stripping, and thermal barriers to control this leakage. The prime factor related to fire is the glazing, but noncombustible aluminum frames hold the glazing longer than many other framing materials. Double glazing provides better protection than single glazing. Tempered glass, which is four times stronger (more resistant) than single-pane annealed and twice the strength of a dual pane, increases the fire resistance further.

The positive attributes of aluminum, which include strength, stiffness, flexibility, durability, corrosion resistance, and nontoxicity, combined with its ability to be recycled and reused indefinitely without a loss of any of these attributes make aluminum one of the most sustainable and beneficial building materials in current use. Aluminum can be finished and colored in a number of ways and thus provides designers with a generously wide choice of design options, along with the knowledge they are using a safe, affordable, healthy, and sustainable material.

Photo by David Lalush; courtesy of All Weather Architectural Aluminum

The Waterfall Residence incorporated aluminum doors and windows to match the overall industrial aesthetic of the home, while also complying with the sustainable net-zero energy goals.

DESIGN MEETS FUNCTION: THE WATERFALL RESIDENCE

Set in the picturesque Carmel Valley in Monterey County, California, the Waterfall Residence had sustainable performance aspirations as high as the visual design goals.

Architect Andrew Goodwin, owner and architect at AGD Architecture + Design, was tasked with designing the Waterfall Residence to embrace the natural aesthetics of the local forest of old-growth oak trees, but with a striking industrial and contemporary feel. At the same time, the home needed to achieve the U.S. Department of Energy’s Zero Energy Design Designation.

“The design was intentional in its desire to look more like a solid object or industrial artifact. Since the building structure was light gauge steel and the exterior appeared as if it were industrial in nature, the windows had to match this aesthetic,” Goodwin said. To match the contemporary aesthetic and ensure a high-performance design, Goodwin specified dual-glazed aluminum sliding door and window frames. “Aluminum windows gave the design team a contemporary option that would match the whole house design.”

In a strategic effort to avoid disturbing the dozens of old-growth oak trees on the property, and to mitigate the site’s elevation change of 75-plus feet, the architects opted to lift the 2,330-square-foot home into the tree canopy, ensuring spectacular views that overlook the valley in three directions–east, west, and south.

“The Waterfall Residence was designed to have a significant amount of glass,” Goodwin said. “It was important to not only have material that would be durable for decades but also would perform well thermally.” Most of the views from the residence were to the south, and so even with a large overhang, the windows needed to have superior thermal performance.

“By using a thermally broken design with a high U-value, we were able to make the home perform well while maintaining the views and connectivity to nature,” he said. “Aluminum windows have proven to provide these great solutions while also not being overly expensive.”

Aluminum inherently possesses many of the qualities that Goodwin was searching for when designing the Waterfall Residence.

Photo by David Lalush; courtesy of All Weather Architectural Aluminum

Large aluminum windows and sliding doors allow the Waterfall Residence access to both sweeping views and natural daylight, reducing the energy demand for artificial lighting.

“The basic physical attributes of aluminum windows allowed us to minimize the window frames for a more aesthetically pleasing connection to nature from the inside of the home,” he said. Aluminum provided the team with a lightweight and durable material that turned out to also be low maintenance in the long run. This low maintenance advantage was equally effective on the inside and outside of the home. By avoiding wood frames that age and require maintenance even after a short period of time, the team could focus on the ease and superiority of delivery as well as the longevity of aluminum.

Aluminum also played a role in the overall earth-friendly strategy of the Waterfall Residence.