AAMA 2605-05 Sets High Standards for Coated Aluminum Extrusions and Panels

Strict criteria result in better performance
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Extruded Aluminum Cladding in Historic Renovations

Extruded aluminum clad frames have a significant place in restoration work. Built in the 1880s, LaFortune Student Center and Washington Hall at Notre Dame University, South Bend, Indiana, are both on the National Register of Historic Places. This renovation, designed by Architecture Design Group, South Bend, Indiana, called for energy-efficient, low-maintenance windows that preserved the profiles and unique colors of the original. Including a large circular window assembly in Washington Hall, all the windows duplicated the original Irish Tan color in low-maintenance aluminum cladding. At LaFortune Student Center, double-hung windows with extruded aluminum cladding and simulated divided lites were used. Casings for the clad window were factory applied-a solution that can save significant job site time and labor while resulting in consistent, high-quality casing and a good match for the building character and materials.

Extruded aluminum cladding is also specified for projects that have unique historical features. For example, at the University of Minnesota, Nolte Hall features windows with architectural nuances. The windows built for this restoration project, designed by Miller Dunwiddie Architecture, Minneapolis, Minnesota, incorporated custom extruded aluminum clad casing and sill profiles, simulated divide lites, and a recessed transom on a number of large round top windows. One of the design details replicated was the ogee lug, a curved ornamental part that hangs down from the lower corners of upper sash in double-hung windows. This historic feature was recreated in low-maintenance clad aluminum. A new insulating glass sash was designed to save energy, while preserving the original art glass and wood millwork.

Fenestration that preserved the profiles and unique colors of the existing 300-plus windows were critical in the renovation of Washington Hall at Notre Dame University. Energy efficient clad windows duplicated the intricacies of the original profiles on the renovation project at the University of Minnesota's Nolte Hall.

Photography: courtesy of Marvin Windows and Doors.

Designers look to aluminum cladding for windows that precisely reproduce the aesthetic intricacies of the original windows, and contemporary materials and features that provide a durable, energy-efficient, low-maintenance solution. This is illustrated in the restoration undertaken by the Motherhouse of the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia congregation in Nashville, Tennessee, which embarked on a major renovation and expansion to save the building and gain more space. One of the major components of the project involved building and installing approximately 750 new and replacement windows. The new construction involved over 300 windows; the renovation called for approximately 440 custom-built windows in a variety of shapes and sizes, many of them of massive dimensions and requiring unique design solutions, including custom panning systems and replication details.


"Angel Wing" windows replicated the authentic divided lite and beading on the original windows.
Photography: courtesy of Marvin Windows and Doors.

The window specifications for the renovation included clad double-hung and single-hung windows, many with round tops. Round top windows were of an uncommon design with a round-topped sash and frame on the exterior and a round-topped sash and rectangular frame on the interior. Also included were 22 distinctive "angel wing" windows. These were clad single-hung, round top windows almost 12 feet high and featuring interior authentic divided lites in the upper sash; a three-and one-half-inch beaded wood bar on the interior with one-and three-quarter-inch beading around the circular lite; and a decorative exterior one-piece milled upper sash. Existing peeling and rotting sills and jambs of varying widths were covered with a maintenance-free aluminum surface.

"A historic renovation project of this type can be very exacting in terms of fenestration," says Jim Thompson, AIA, partner, Fowlkes and Associates, Nashville, Tennessee. "We were looking for windows that require minimum maintenance, have a long life, provide the complex profiles that would be similar to the originals, and meet the requirements of the local historic review board. The durability and flexibility of extruded aluminum frames helped us achieve these goals."

 

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Originally published in May 2007

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