From concept design to proprietary system selection

The conceptual design of a pre-finished steel clad building will include some considerations of profile and how this affects the appearance and function of the building. The pre-finished steel is fundamental to both the visual appeal and durability of the cladding and as a result Corus would recommend that in the specification process this comes first.

Once the pre-finished steel specification has been decided upon for a building, this has to be incorporated into a system. So what are the important aspects of a system specification?

• The pre-finished steel.
• The physical system.
• The profile taken by the pre-finished steel.

The choice of system is mainly on the grounds of functionality and buildability, although some systems such as façade panels import their own aesthetic to the building envelope. The profile informs the exterior aesthetic of the building, but can have functional implications too, for example, the use of standing-seam profiles to eliminate exposed fixings from a very lowpitched roof.

Whilst there is much commonality, not all profile types are available in every system type, and vice versa, so the selection process must be iterative.