When pharmaceutical giant Bayer’s new headquarters was being designed with significant amounts of glazing in the cladding of the building, glare control was a key consideration. Chicago based architects Murphy/Jahn involved Levolux at an early stage of the procurement process as they wanted a large scale dynamic custom made shading system. Levolux designers developed a venetian blind system incorporating 13in wide roll formed perforated louvers.

On 21 September 1999, a violent earthquake shook the island of Taiwan, Ten years later, this catastrophe is still in the peoples’ minds. To allow people to remember and to understand, the Earthquake Museum was erected on the very site of the epicenter.

Lucky Seven -There is an old quote that says that good things come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle.  Well, at VMZINC, we often work quietly but diligently behind the scenes to bring new products and services to the architectural community.  Such is the case with our newest product.  We difinitely did The Hustle on this one.  What is “this one?”

Well, this beauty is Pigmento Brown -the lastest product offer in our very popular Pigmento series.  This makes the seventh color of zinc that we offer to architects and other designers.  For us, this brown-eyed girl is reason to celebrate -perhaps all night.  So come on!  We’re going to have a good time tonight.  Celebrate!  (We assure you) It’s alright!

Please forgive the Kool-and-the-Gang-meets-Van-Morrison mixed metaphor, but we can’t help it.  Not to mention the Van Mccoy reference earlier.  But, this baby makes us proud -perhaps even… dare we say… “You make me feel like dancing.”  Yes!  With all due deference to Leo Sayer and the 1970’s, this is a product that we can dance to.  And, unlike the disco era, this is one of those products that you just know will go on to bigger and better things as time goes by.  It will age gracefully and stand strong against passing fads and fancy. 

Some parents, like their children, are just lucky. -VM

Source: www.zincsense.com

repost from www.zincsense.com

To sit down and forget you’re in a chair, to let yourself be carried away by the music., to feel – these are the ideas that drove the creation of the Byen chair, developed specifically for Copenhagen’s sophisticated DR Byen concert hall. Jean Nouvel worked in collaboration with the Figueras Design Centre ‘to achieve a balance between an original chair design and the comfort of functional seating’. The Byen chair’s distinctive lines are inspired by a classic chair once used in royal boxes, but the latest technologies were applied to achieve acoustic excellence.

Currently Europe’s largest inner-city building site, Potsdamer Platz in Berlin is being redeveloped to make it, once again, a pulsating cosmopolitan center. A major part of this development is the Sony Center which covers an area of 86,614 sq. ft. and includes the company’s new European headquarters. With large areas of glazing and huge numbers of computer screens, control of the light through the windows into the offices was a vital consideration in the design of the headquarters building. The designer uses Levolux specialty venetian blinds.

Speaking of Music -Our earlier post today went all disco on itself.  This post will be short and sweet and will not have too many music references.  But, hey!  Speaking of music… check out our new newsletter.  (Click on the sweet picture above). 

Suffice to say, this puppy rocks!

Enjoy-VM

Source: www.zincsense.com

repost from www.zincsense.com

Nestle’s newest plant located in Graneros (just south of Santiago) Chile, recently opened its doors. Sustainable architecture was Guillermo Hevia’s plan from the very start of the building’s design. The combination of glass and concrete, along with the Screen Panels manufactured in corten steel by Hunter Douglas – brings out the nature of the materials resulting in a unique industrial appeal.

According to Germany’s IFB Dr. Braschel AG Architects, “Buildings are not fixed objects. They are alive.” The firm’s design of Shanghai’s Automobile Museum demonstrates this idea perfectly, with “massive flowing curves” that “symbolize the fast moving track of automobiles.” Appropriately, the architects selected sleek QuadroClad façade panels from Hunter Douglas for the building’s exterior.

The new , Hugh Aston development at Leicester’s De Montfort University, features a custom Solar Shading solution from Levolux. The striking new home for De Montfort University’s Business and Law Faculty, designed by CPMG Architects, comprises 3 linked wings of between five and seven storeys, formed around a central open atrium, known as the Winter Garden.

Buildings from the past are not all equal to the passage of time. Pyramids palaces and monuments are timeless. Others age gracefully or disappear over time. Sometimes however, the past and the present manage to unite. Such is this case of this bunker build in Hamm, Germany during the II World War. The strong lines of the concrete blocks are reflected in the flowing lines of the Anthra Zinc cladding.