Photo courtesy: Schueco
With the real-estate segment badly hit by the pandemic, demand for architectural products—including fenestrations and façades—has slumped too.
“Sales are down; all we are seeing is queries from architects and developers for their upcoming projects,” shares Rajiv Balaggan, Sales Head, Architectural Glass India, Pilkington Glass India.
“The building materials industry was just showing some signs of revival from past challenges (GST, RERA, etc) when COVID-19 struck, and this has set back the industry by 12-24 months,” says Ashwani Khanna, AVP Marketing, FunderMax.
“Uncertainty of future demand is delaying business decisions for new construction projects while ongoing projects are just about seeing some movement,” says Niraj Borikar, Country Manager, Danpal.
Uncertainties linked with the nationwide lockdown, labour shortage and risks associated with stalled projects across multiple sectors have all impacted the fenestration and façade industry, adds Pratik Doshi, National Manages, Façades, Schueco.
Of late, rising air pollution in cities has increased the interest in air-purifiers fitted on façade components.
Schueco presents a ventilation solution developed especially for the needs of people living in cities and urban areas. A multi-stage, high-performance filter effectively removes 99.7 per cent of particulate matter, pollen and harmful substances, as confirmed by the TÜV (German organisation providing vehicular inspection and product certification services), thus ensuring optimum inner air quality.
“What stands out about this product is that it is inconspicuously installed in the Schueco window and façade system, thus preserving the architecture of the building,” says Doshi.
Increasing air pollution and toxic radiations helped make double-layered skins a necessity, observes Architect Indrajit Kembhavi of Kembhavi Architects. Now, with COVID-19, he expects to see rapid adaptation to self-purifying façade systems.
“The chances of COVID-19 aerosols to stay airborne for a considerable amount of time have helped upgrade air-purifiers from a luxury commodity to a necessity,” says Doshi.
“While the requirement for air purification systems for all types of buildings is still in the nascent stage, going forward air purification systems integrated with façades may become available,” says Borikar.
However, Amit Khanna, Design Principal, Amit Khanna Design Associates, believes façade-based air purification systems would be best suited for temperate climates. In North India, for instance, both summers and winters are harsh, requiring some sort of indoor air temperature control. He feels it is up to manufacturers to see if these can be made to work together.
In this context, FG GlassTM provides users the option of a clear, hydrophobic coating that can be applied (even as a retrofit) to any glass surface—a façade, shower cubicles, interior partitions and workstations—for more hygienic, easy-to-sanitise and safer home and office spaces.
Self-sanitising façades, Kembhavi explains, could vary from simplistic systems such as green walls and the use of azolla algae to systems using UV virus-killing light beams between double façades. Also, washable systems with proper drying and draining systems could find favour. Another alternative could be self-cleaning façades using photovoltaic air-scrubbing titanium dioxide as a layer between the skins. In specialised use spaces, a triple-layer skin combining more than one system could also be deployed.
“We are looking forward to introducing India to the NSG Group’s antiviral coated glass,” says Balaggan. “This product would help reduce the spread of infection via surfaces that the virus lives on for anywhere from two hours to nine days as per the WHO. Its applications would include public transport as well as malls, hospitals, offices, etc. Our research team is exploring ways to combine the antiviral functionality with other functionality of glass, such as solar control, to enhance the appeal of the product.”
The sustainability movement has encouraged more natural ventilation and ventilated façades to improve indoor air quality, observes Rahul Kumar, Principal Architect, Rajinder Kumar Associates.
Leading architects have taken up the green cause. Sanjay Puri, Founder, Sanjay Puri Architects, strongly advocates against the use of fixed curtainwall glass façades, pointing out that all his firm’s buildings—residential, office, education and hospitality—are designed with large outdoor spaces in the form of balconies, terraces and terrace gardens with openable glass windows.
While high pollution levels and the cost of double-skin façades have often precluded the full use of these systems, Kumar sees more of an increase in filtered fresh air into HVAC systems in commercial buildings so that airborne transmission is reduced. In less polluted areas, openable windows will probably be more common and become a part of the design brief.
Architect John Alok DeCruz, Director - Projects, Morphogenesis, feels the line between the indoors and the outdoors is becoming increasingly blurred. “Building occupants are more comfortable spending their breaks outdoors, which is naturally daylit and ventilated, instead of in air-conditioned indoor environments. So post-pandemic, façade systems will need to intertwine between the indoor-outdoor environment to create openable and cross-ventilated facades.”
This approach is one that Morphogenesis has extensively used across institutional projects such as The British School, The Lalit Suri Hospitality Institute and a school in Vijayawada, where a grid of 700 sq ft was designed within a cluster of classrooms as a protected multifunctional breakout space with the possibility of a sliding folding glass façade to enclose the space, if needed.
In commercial buildings, Morphogenesis has designed facades with one grid being a part of the office floor plate when closed and forming a multifunctional breakout space when opened or by means of sliding and foldable skins. These spaces have internal folding glass meeting pods that are used as private meeting pods when closed or as part of the larger outdoor space when opened.
An interesting experimental project is the BIQ house project in Hamburg, Germany (built for the International Building Exhibition). Developed jointly by Arup, Splitterwerk Architects, Colt International and the Strategic Science Consult of Germany, this microbial façade system is a ‘bio-adaptive’ façade that uses living micro-algae to harvest solar power while providing shade. The envelope generates power by capturing solar thermal heat and generating biomass for harvest. Brilliant!
Images of companies promoting transparent partitions for office workstations, store counters and even classrooms are being pitched as a means to create social distance within existing space limitations.
“Partitioning helps redesign large spaces into a confluence of smaller contained pods to restrict and contain COVID-19 and other infections,” observes Architect Indrajit Kembhavi of Kembhavi Architects.
In the current scenario, everyone wants to stay safe. Indeed, “most projects in design and construction have already started asking for more protection in open work spaces through partitions,” shares Rahul Kumar, Principal Architect, Rajinder Kumar Associates.
Architect John Alok DeCruz, Director - Projects, Morphogenesis, expects agile workspaces to be redefined in the post-pandemic normal. “Close collaborative spaces will make way for virtual workspaces and packed offices will make way for offices with reduced capacity.”
In many Morphogenesis commercial and office projects, landscaped spaces are being designed as extensions of the indoor workplace where various seating formats, ranging from single working pods to multiple occupancy meeting spaces, have been designed to function as an extension of the typical indoor office, and cordoned off through glass and rain protection partitions for the well-being of occupants.
“Glass partitions or plexi glass becomes a design feature of choice as it is light-transmitted and also helps in visual connect,” says Kembhavi.
Being easy to clean and sanitise, Khanna believes glass is likely to see greater use in interiors to create partitions and screens in reception areas, between workstations, in cafeterias as dividers, and even in common areas as wall cladding and bathrooms.
Among the types of glass popularly used for partitions and tables in interiors, Sanjay Puri, Founder, Sanjay Puri Architects, counts toughened glass, laminated glass, coloured glass, sandwich glass panels with fibre, or wallpaper, film, etc. Glass with graphic prints is an emerging option.
While Kumar also agrees that glass is a natural choice, he sees the use of lighter, mobile materials being explored such as polycarbonates of different kinds, acrylic and materials like polyethylene terephthalate glycol, commonly called PETG or PET-G.
Niraj Borikar, Country Manager, Danpal, suggests the use of polycarbonate-panelled partitions, which are lightweight and impact-resistant.
Danpal has launched Advanced Protective Partitions offering two modules: DanDesk and DanWall. DanDesks offer coronavirus protection without taking away visibility, and are suitable for office and school desk users, restaurant guests, and workstation users in hospitals, clinics, hotels and other public areas. DanDesks are flexible, durable and easy-to-assemble. DanWall is a tall, floor-based partition suited to public places such as hospitals, shopping centres, waiting areas, banks and hotels.
If the pandemic situation continues, Ashwani Khanna, AVP Marketing, FunderMax, foresees the use of partitions made of materials with anti-microbial properties and easy-to-clean surfaces and, possibly, a return of the culture of cabins in place of open offices. The FunderMax Max Cabina partition system has antimicrobial properties and is easily dis-infectable.
Partitions of the future could be flexible and easily reassembled to involve restructuring of a space with ease, adds Kembhavi. The ideal materials for the same would be lightweight aluminium and plexi glass.
Kumar expects internal partition heights to increase slightly so one is covered from the person sitting on the opposite side. He also expects the use of transparent partitions to pick up in very large and completely open spaces in IT and other offices. Green building and natural light requirements will see partitions using materials that transmit light.
All said and done, Kachwala sees partitioning as a short-term fad, saying: “In the long-term, such systems may not last; we will be back to airy, obstruction-free interiors.”
Now that’s something to look forward to!
“At Schueco, we are thriving in the current situation by providing value-added design support to partners engaged with winning projects,” shares Pratik Doshi, National Manages, Façades, Schueco. “Schueco is also focusing on the internal training of its teammates and fabrication partners through its ‘WeCare’ campaign.”
Schueco has recently released an upgraded aluminium sliding door for tropical climates. With growing awareness about sustainability and using tested and certified products, Doshi is positive about the long-term prospects of products such as Schueco’s openable aluminium framed doors with automation and door control systems; curtainwall products for partitions; curtainwalls with concealed, almost invisible vents; automated windows with smoke sensors, rain sensors and touchless operations by Schueco Bluecon; and unitised façades.
FG GlassTM has sought to strengthen its dominant position in the ‘architecture for people and property security’ space with several launches in the past few months. It is offering Pyran Fusion, a new, insulated, high-performance, fire-resistant glass (EI30/EW120) in collaboration with SCHOTTTM Germany. In collaboration with KurarayTM, Japan, a leading global supplier of interlayers for laminated glass, FG Glass will develop and launch bullet, burglar, and blast-resistant glass and framing systems. Of this development Tariq Kachwala, Director, FG Glass Industries, says: “We propose to launch the thinnest, clearest, lightest and most durable glass constructions for security applications compared to industry norms.”
FunderMax has launched the Max Lato sun-shading system (static and manually operable) that supports natural ventilation. A standardised installation system designed for India can withstand extreme weather conditions and comes in a host of decors.
- CHARU BAHRI
