Parking garages present an aesthetic challenge to even the most creative design minds. Their vast scale and monotonous appearance are necessitated by function, but result in the difficulty of making the garages visually interesting instead of simply overbearing. Cladding a parking garage in a unique material can add visual interest and texture to achieve a more human connection. However, this in turn creates concerns about still bringing light and air into the garage.
To balance the aesthetic and functional needs of parking garages, Kaynemaile reimagined two-thousand-year-old chainmail armor into an architectural mesh that reduces solar heat gain and creates an interesting facade while still allowing for ventilation and visual transparency. Unlike with a panelized facade, this system can be manufactured to any height and width without the need for any distracting seams, ideal for large-scale applications like a massive garage. Following are some case studies that take advantage the unique properties of this polycarbonate mesh.
Bold Waves for Pacific Fair Parking Garage
Located on the Gold Coast in Australia, this parking garage had a predetermined structural frame that the cladding system would need to work within. With the unlimited screen size, however, the designers still had the flexibility to explore different design concepts. Reducing heat gain while maintaining airflow was crucial in the subtropical climate of the Hold Coast. Kaynemaile reduces both radiant heat and thermal conductive heat by up to 70% without sacrificing daylight, ventilation, or visual transparency.
The three-dimensional facade creates a wave pattern, reminiscent of the nearby Pacific Ocean, using a champagne-colored mesh layer in front of a second, translucent marine-colored mesh. The double layers give the facade a dramatically different appearance from day to night. In daylight, the sun catches on the undulating champagne mesh, hitting it at different angles across the facade. At night, on the other hand, architectural lighting highlights the marine layer behind, which ripples in the breeze as the structure glows from within.
Solar Shading for Westfield Carousel
Westfield Carousel is a shopping center near Perth, Australia. The three-dimensional mesh pyramids stretch across all four facades of the huge complex, for a total surface area of nearly 7,000 square feet (or 650 square meters). The pyramids are created from a shimmering bronze coloured mesh that gives a dynamic appearance in the Australian sun.
The steel substructure was installed first, with Kaynemaile mesh then applied to each rectangular frame. The simple and versatile fixing system meant the installation was quick and easy, even given the huge scale of the project. Again, for Australia’s hot climate, maintaining airflow throughout the garage was imperative. The mesh has an open structure of around 80%, meaning it won’t impede ventilation into the parking garage.
Seamless Parking Garage Exterior Inspired by a Leather Couch
This multi-story parking garage in Adelaide was clad using only eight Kaynemaile mesh screens, the largest of which measuring approximately 190 feet wide by 52 feet high (or 58 by 16 meters). The unique design was inspired by a leather couch and involved at-scale prototyping to achieve the desired appearance while maintaining quick installation speeds. Each large screen was lifted and fixed in just one day, the facade features “buttons” that give the screen depth and texture through the way the sunlight bounces off them.
The system is durable and impact-resistant, yet flexible enough to allow for creative, organic facades like this one. The mesh is made from high-performance thermoplastic that’s thermally stable from -40 to 428 degrees Fahrenheit (-40 to 120 degrees Celcius). It won’t oxidize or corrode like metal mesh, nor will it stain surrounding surfaces with rust when it rains. The mineral pigments are color-fast and the mesh also retains its tensile strength over time. The material is fully-recyclable using low-energy processes and its unique manufacturing process reduces waste by making only the amount needed for each job.
For further information about Kaynemaile, check out their first E-Paper.
