Appealing and Long-Lasting Hospitality and Retail Design
OUTDOOR SPACE PROJECT EXAMPLE
Photo courtesy of Bison Innovative Products
Project: Loews Chicago Downtown Hotel
Location: Chicago, Illinois
Architect: Solomon Cordwell Buenz
Developer: DRW Holdings
The Project: Located in the heart of Chicago, the luxurious Loews Chicago Downtown Hotel is situated steps from Navy Pier, offers guests spectacular city skyline and lake views, and is ideally located near Magnificent Mile. The unbeatable downtown city location is the perfect option for business, leisure, and family travel.
The Outdoor Space: This distinctive and sophisticated hotel offers guests a rooftop lounge ideal for dining, relaxing, business meetings, and special events such as weddings. The expansive rooftop deck was constructed using adjustable height pedestals supporting concrete pavers. The rooftop is complete with a green roof and areas dedicated to lounging, relaxing, and dining.
2. Building Interiors Space Separation And Connections
In hospitality and retail settings there may be a need to provide a degree of separation between different spaces without the use of a solid wall or partition. In fact, it may even be desirable to provide some controlled connectivity between spaces for visibility, airflow, sound, or other reasons. Several different products have been used to achieve this effect, particularly in interiors, but an emerging, innovative choice is the use of a coiled wire fabric. Such products are different from traditional metal mesh materials in that they are designed as architectural products for use in a variety of ways.
Coiled wire fabric is a durable, thin material that is lighter in weight than traditional wire mesh and offers more design flexibility. For interiors, architects and designers can use coiled wire fabric for curtains, ceiling treatments, wall coverings, security gates, and even as complete partitions, all adding elegance and purpose to the spaces where they are used. On hospitality and retail exteriors, it can be used for sun shading, security protection, resilience enhancements, or aesthetic facade treatments. It is available with a range of attachment systems allowing for different building conditions and finish treatments. The material can be left to hang (i.e., flowing freely) or it can be secured at both the top and bottom and pulled taut to create a semi-rigid condition. Because of its fabric nature, curved and undulating shapes are easily achieved providing interiors with more character and vitality than rectilinear shapes alone.
Photo courtesy of Cascade Architectural
In hospitality and retail settings, coiled wire fabric is used as an interior visual design element, an energy-saving sunscreen on windows, or a security gate that does not obstruct visibility into the retail space.
From a performance standpoint, coiled wire fabric can be used for light diffusion to further enhance the interior ambient lighting of a space. In appropriate strengths, it can provide partitioning for safety, fall protection, blast mitigation, and security. Further, if there is an interest in extending its use to the exterior, the material is durable enough to withstand those rigors as well.
Coiled wire fabric can contribute to green building design in several ways. It has been tested and shown to be an easy and attractive way to save on air conditioning costs by limiting the amount of sunlight that enters the building. Uniquely, the metal fabric does not block views to the outside like typical window curtains do. For retrofit applications where advanced high-performance glazing has not been installed, coiled wire fabric systems can be especially effective.
As a material made from metal, coiled wire fabric is a durable product with a long service life. It can contain recycled content and is 100 percent recyclable when it is removed from service. When used on building interiors, it is worth noting that no toxic chemicals are used in the material’s manufacturing process. Some even carry Declare labels from the International Living Future Institute indicating the degree to which human health and the environment are protected by the products.
COILED WIRE FABRIC IN PROJECTS
Photo courtesy of Cascade Architectural
When selecting a coiled wire fabric system for a hospitality or retail project, there are a lot of different choices in the details of how it can be specified, as follows.
Material Makeup The base metal wire can be steel, aluminum, brass, copper, or stainless steel. The choice of the wire material and its gauge impact the weight, functionality, and aesthetics of the final fabric. The base metal, wire gauge, weave pattern, and finish can be altered to suit the needed strength, rigidity, and appearance of the coiled wire fabric.
Light Transparency Coiled wire fabric will allow light to pass through, but how much and how visually transparent it appears will be based directly on the specified make-up of a particular fabric. Those with thicker wires and tighter weaves will obviously allow less light than those with thinner wires and more open weaves.
Formability Coiled wire fabric is free flowing and flexible, meaning it can be formed and shaped to create undulating or curved surfaces, flat taut surfaces, or a combination of any of these. That allows for a high degree of creativity in how spaces are defined and articulated, both for walls and ceilings.
Color Coiled wire fabric is available in either a natural, uncoated state or with resilient powder-coating finishes for a sharp, long-lasting aesthetic. The color choices are broad, allowing it to be a successful part of virtually any design scheme. Further, the finishes can be specified to match any RAL color code or specified to comply with Declare labels from the International Living Future Institute to protect human health when used on interiors.
Performance Traits It can be used for light diffusion or shading to enhance or control the ambient lighting of a space. It also serves very nicely as a surface to receive nighttime lighting. In appropriate strengths, it can provide partitioning for safety, fall protection, blast mitigation, and security.
Cost Effectiveness Compared to the full construction of rigid partitions or other separation elements, coiled wire fabric is a very affordable option. It is also more economical than commercial woven wire mesh that is typically designed for other purposes.
Designers who recognize the innovative uses of this product and its green building traits can achieve successful outcomes in hospitality and retail settings.
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