For the renovation works on the IKI Shopping Centre located in Siauliai, Lithuania, the architects and planners implemented a holistic approach. Internally to the structure, the adaptation to changing customer needs stood foremost whereas the outside of the freestanding building complex was required to portray independent and immediately recognisable landmark traits by means of an expressively gripping facade design. In its original form, the two-storey building had been constructed with a neutrally functional glass panel facade. Since this was impossible to change, the architects opted for a decorative, stainless steel facade curtain, entirely constructed in the alphamesh 12.0 ring mesh.
alphamesh ring mesh facade design
The alphamesh covering runs across the entire top storey of the building’s front section, with a total area amounting to slightly over 500 square metres. The ring mesh draping across the top floor forms a striking contrast with the ground floor’s glass panel facade. Right above the central entrance, the facade shows off the ring mesh’s three-dimensional shaping capabilities, attracting the shopping centre visitors to the elongated building structure’s entrance area. The eye-catching effect obtained by reducing the radii of the ring mesh so that it gathers into a ripple works to accentuate, without breaking, the sweep of the overall facade design.
alphamesh plays of light
During daytime hours, the daylight rays play with mirroring and reflecting themselves off the surface of the scores of thousands of individual, stainless steel rings. Here the light entrance and incidence angles, the intensity of the light rays and the perspective it is actually viewed from, provide a continuously changing perception of the facade. With the onset of dusk, the plays of light are taken over by the integrated LED technology, providing light colour changes transforming the ring mesh into a highly visible light curtain which is regarded both as an architectural landmark as well as the Shopping Centre’s hallmark.
energy efficiency and long life
The ring mesh facade did not however score extra points with the project planners and designers only thanks to its highly versatile design capabilities. The alphamesh ring mesh additionally features a 100 percent non rusting, high grade stainless steel composition, making it extremely long-lasting, with a virtually limitless durability even if facade maintenance operations are almost completely omitted. Dirt does not adhere to the ring mesh surfaces and under normal weather conditions, the facade practically boasts self-cleaning properties. Due to the fact that stainless steel is furthermore not affected by external factors, the alphamesh ring meshes remain 100 percent recyclable even after extremely long life cycles. And in as far as building physics issues are concerned, the shading properties provided by the ring mesh facade effectively constitute a further positive feature. Heat transfer reductions amounting to well over 20 percent have been recorded and as a material featuring an open area amounting to 63 percent, alphamesh effectively delivers on a substantial energy saving potential.
Project: IKI, Siauliai | Country: Lithunia | Architects / Design: UAB Architektüros Atelje, Vilnius
Material: alphamesh 12.0 stainless steel | Quantity: approx. 65 m²