Building Design+Construction editors bring you the top building products for the month of October. Collected across a variety of building sectors, these products easily insulate, touch up panel damage, and provide design flexibility.
From structural round timber (SRT) to user-friendly air handling units, here are 15 products being used in the industry today.
October 2023 Top 15 Building Products
—
Sto GPS Board
by Sto Corp.
Featuring low global warming potential and zero ozone depletion potential, Sto GPS Board is a graphite-enhanced, 100% closed-cell expanded polystyrene insulation board and does not contain fluorocarbon-blowing agents. Usable in a variety of applications—including with the StoTherm ci GPS wall system, StoTherm ci MVES and StoPowerwall ci systems—the insulation board provides a thinner wall section that aligns with ASHRAE 90.1 prescriptive continuous insulation requirements while achieving an R-value per inch of 4.7 at 75 F. Its silver-gray color creates less glare and a professional jobsite appearance.
Flooring Medintone Sheet with Diamond 10 Technology
by AHF Products
The refresh of the Armstrong Flooring Medintone homogeneous sheet flooring collection introduces new colors and incorporates Diamond 10 Technology that provides scratch, stain and scuff resistance without needing polishing, stripping or restorative maintenance. Inspired by biophilia and natural healing, the collection is available in a spectrum of soft, tonal neutrals and bright pops of color plus a carefully curated texture. Engineered for spaces demanding superior infection control, the commercial flooring has through-pattern construction that resists abrasion and other wear created by heavy equipment or frequent rearrangement of furniture. The collection complies with LEED credit for Indoor Air Quality, Health Product Declaration and includes a 10-year commercial limited warranty.
Solarban 60 Starphire glass
by Vitro Architectural Glass
A famous aquarium sought to improve the overall efficiency of the building envelope and functionality of its rainforest habitat, and because of the sensitive marine life setting with specific environmental parameters, much thought went into the glass specification decision before landing on Solarban 60 Starphire glass. Meeting the aquarium’s performance objectives while also helping replicate the rainforest environment, the glazing modules combine transparent low-iron glass with a high-performance solar control low-E coating to produce a visible light transmittance of 74% and a solar heat gain coefficient of 0.41 in a standard 1-inch IGU. The first surface of the glazing was Walker Textures Opaque acid-etched glass on Starphire glass to help prevent bird collisions.
Chemetal Blackened Metals collection
by Chemetal
The curated Blackened Metals Collection showcases 10 designs within the dark gray to black color range. For vertical or horizontal use in commercial interiors, the collection features subtle variation, embossed textures and industrial metal looks to provide options that suit a range of budgets and design needs. Most designs are aluminum, can be cut with woodworking equipment using a metal cutting blade and are 100% recyclable at the end of their useful life. Included, as an example, in the curated collection are the Alu designs that emulate the look of weathered or blackened steel but in lighter and more easily fabricated aluminum.
Hybrid Stablebase cell spray foam
by Firestable Insulation Company
Building on the recent release of Firestable FS 2.0, the insulation offerings expands to include two innovative, environmentally-friendly products, Stablebase 2.0 Max R and Stablebase 0.5 Max Yield. Both spray polyurethane foam insulation products comply with International Building Code AC-377; are suitable for commercial and residential applications; provide air, vapor and water barrier functionality; and offer shortened reoccupation times. Stablebase 2.0 Max R is a two-component, hydrofluoroolefins (HFO) blown, closed-cell, spray-applied polyurethane foam system that has a 7.5 R-value and Global Warming Potential (GWP) of less than 2 with an Ozone Depletion Potential (ODP) of zero. Containing zero ozone-depleting blowing agents, Stablebase 0.5 Max Yield is a two-component, 1-to-1, open-cell, spray-applied polyurethane foam designed to provide high thermal performance and significant control of air filtration as an air-barrier assembly.
Sustainable Structural Round Timber (SRT) products
by WholeTrees Structures
When planning a new children’s museum, the design team created a space that will foster excitement, encourage play and inspire discovery for kids of all ages and is carbon neutral as a structural round timber (SRT) building. Through collaboration with a timber engineering firm/fabricator, the primary structural support system for the two-story building consists of responsibly sourced mass timber, with round timber columns, joist trusses and girder trusses used in place of conventional steel and concrete. A loft-like interior space incorporates round timber columns as a demonstration of how a building is supported while also serving as an armature for hands-on exhibits and interactive technology. A timber products company sourced the Douglas fir logs and 30-foot structural maple columns from Sustainable Forestry Initiative-certified forests. Starting with a key goal of reducing the carbon footprint of its construction, the museum has sequestered more than 350,000 pounds of carbon dioxide equivalent in the timber structural system.
NHW-A Non-Condensing Tankless Water Heater
by Navien, Inc.
The NHW-A non-condensing tankless water heater comes in two configurations,—NHW-AI for interior installations and NHW-AE for exterior installations—three sizes and with either natural gas or liquid propane fuel operation. As the only non-condensing tankless water heater to feature the ComfortFlow recirculation pump and buffer tank, it resolves the issue of low flow rates, helps eliminate the “cold water sandwich” effect and reduces wait time for hot water by allowing internal or external circulation without needing external parts or controls. Recirculation times can be programmed for always on, set on a weekly schedule using the remote controller or its intelligent setting can learn a user’s hot water patterns and automatically adjust to match.
Express TLX series 4-station lavatory system
by Bradley Corp.
Providing a durable, seamless and complete handwashing package, the Express TLX series 4-station lavatory system has an elongated, open trough design that is compact enough to save on wall space yet comfortably offers personal handwashing space for up to four users. This model is cast-formed in Terreon Solid Surface material for a smooth, seamless construction that, because it is a nonporous material, will not support mold, mildew or bacteria accumulation. Available in a full palette of solid surface colors, the lavatory system can be paired with a variety of fixture options, making it suitable for a variety of new construction and retrofit projects. The installation process requires only two rough-ins, integral mounting supports and a unique mounting plate.
Alumicor aluminum-framed systems, curtainwall
by Alumicor
A new sustainable, contemporary elementary school in British Columbia, Canada, provides flexible learning spaces for more than 650 students from kindergarten through seventh grade with an atmosphere of inclusiveness, openness and transparency that the use of multiple Alumicor products helps achieve. With the school designed to meet LEED Gold criteria, the inclusion of Alumicor aluminum-framed systems complement the design’s generous use of glass and metal while providing energy efficiency and high thermal performance suited to the area’s cold climate. A two-story Alumicor curtainwall defines the school’s main entry foyer, while swinging entrance doors are engineered and manufactured to withstand high traffic and continuous use. Additionally, fully glazed glass sliding doors and interior frame systems from Alumicor line the corridors to carry in and optimize daylight more deeply into the school.
COASTALUME coastal roofing solution
by United States Steel Corporation and DuPont
A collaboration between U.S. Steel and DuPont results in COASTALUME, a roofing solution engineered and warrantied for coastal environments. The maintenance-free roofing combines the strength and self-healing characteristics of U.S. Steel’s GALVALUME steel solution with DuPont’s Tedlar PVF film barrier that helps resist saltwater corrosion, UV damage, cracking, impact and more. Suitable for residential and commercial construction along the coast, the product provides a timeless aesthetic with a wide variety of color and finish options available. The product’s coastal warranty covers roofing and siding products installed up to 300 feet from breaking surf, large bays, marshes and other coastlines, while an exclusive warranty also covers up to 50 years for finish warranty and 25 years for substrate.
ALUCOBOND FaceFastened metal cladding
by 3A Composites USA
The launch of ALUCOBOND FaceFastened expands the company’s portfolio of metal façade system options with a plank-like design aesthetic suitable for commercial, multifamily, or mixed-use projects. Because the simple screwed ACM system utilizes FaceFastened Attachment Rails and Screws, the high-performance architectural cladding system delivers a seamless, flush-mounted appearance and design flexibility. The front skin of the panel folds over the system’s perimeter edges to allow for a consistent color appearance on all sides, and the oversized, exposed fasteners can be painted to match the panel face color for a unified appearance or a different color for design contrast. It is available in 91 standard finish options plus custom colors, emit zero VOCs and contributes to LEED.
StressPly Legacy high-performance modified bitumen membranes
by The Garland Company
StressPly Legacy upholds the same standards for durability and waterproofing as previous generations of the high-performance modified bitumen membranes but with a focus on sustainability. Each roll recycles 20 plastic bottles into the fibers of the high strength reinforcing scrim, while each batch keeps eight tires from a landfill due to the amount of recycled crumb rubber incorporated. The StressPly Legacy FR Mineral includes smog reducing granules in its mineral surface that are activated by sunlight, which means a 20,000-sf commercial roof has an estimated smog reducing benefit equivalent to 19 trees. Biodegradable packaging, carbon-neutral shipping and a tree-planting service initiative round out the 360-degree approach to sustainability
High-capacity, welded concealed beam hanger
by Simpson Strong-Tie
Engineered specifically to meet some of the heaviest mass timber beam loads, the Simpson Strong-Tie HSKP (heavy seated knife plate) high-capacity, welded concealed beam hanger can meet heavy loads while providing a hidden connector, wood-only design aesthetic. The welded concealed beam hanger for mass timber structures is code listed for high-capacity loads up to 32 kips and is ideal for a range of applications where loads range from 20 to 32 kips. Offering generous fit-up tolerance for easy beam placement, it is installed in the factory with Strong-Drive SDCF Timber-CF structural screws for an easy to install wood-to-wood or wood-to-steel connection.
Geniox line of air handling units
by Systemair
Aligning its North American and European platforms, the Geniox line of air handling units is becoming even more user-friendly and versatile with more sizes, hygienic design, more flexibility for retrofit applications, more functionality and greater design capability. The versatile, modular platform allows for the complete customization of heat and energy recovery, cooling, filtration, mixing and other elements to meet individual project needs now with more flexibility; energy-efficient operation; and ease of selection, installation and control. SystemairCAD features an intuitive user interface and unique calculation tools to simplify the selection process and design the right air handler unit (AHU) for a project.
PAC-CLAD Paint Pen
by PAC-CLAD Petersen, a Carlisle company
To quickly and effectively touch up scrapes or other damage to the metal panels’ finish, the PAC-CLAD Paint Pen can return the architectural metal façade to its intended appearance and protect the metal substrate. Available for standard colors, the paint pens contain 0.28 ounces of paint, can be shipped wherever needed and have a one year shelf life if stored with the cap tightly secured and in a horizontal position. The previously offered 2-ounce bottles are still available as special orders with longer lead times.
RELATED:
Related Stories
| Aug 11, 2010
8 Things You Should Know About Designing a Roof
Roofing industry expert Joseph Schwetz maintains that there is an important difference between what building codes require and what the construction insurance industry—notably mutual insurance firm Factory Mutual—demands—and that this difference can lead to problems in designing a roof.
| Aug 11, 2010
Concrete Solutions
About five or six years ago, officials at the University of California at Berkeley came to the conclusion that they needed to build a proper home for the university's collection of 900,000 rare Chinese, Japanese, and Korean books and materials. East Asian studies is an important curriculum at Berkeley, with more than 70 scholars teaching some 200 courses devoted to the topic, and Berkeley's pro...
| Aug 11, 2010
Piano's 'Flying Carpet'
Italian architect Renzo Piano refers to his $294 million, 264,000-sf Modern Wing of the Art Institute of Chicago as a “temple of light.” That's all well and good, but how did Piano and the engineers from London-based Arup create an almost entirely naturally lit interior while still protecting the priceless works of art in the Institute's third-floor galleries from dangerous ultravio...
| Aug 11, 2010
Precast All the Way
For years, precast concrete has been viewed as a mass-produced product with no personality or visual appeal—the vanilla of building materials. Thanks to recent technological innovations in precast molds and thin veneers, however, that image is changing. As precast—concrete building components that are poured and molded offsite—continues to develop a vibrant personality all it...
| Aug 11, 2010
Bronze Award: John G. Shedd Aquarium, Chicago, Ill.
To complete the $55 million renovation of the historic John G. Shedd Aquarium in the allotted 17-month schedule, the Building Team had to move fast to renovate and update exhibit and back-of-house maintenance spaces, expand the visitor group holding area, upgrade the mechanical systems, and construct a single-story steel structure on top of the existing oceanarium to accommodate staff office sp...
| Aug 11, 2010
AIA Course: Building with concrete – Design and construction techniques
Concrete maintains a special reputation for strength, durability, flexibility, and sustainability. These associations and a host of other factors have made it one of the most widely used building materials globally in just one century. Take this free AIA/CES course from Building Design+Construction and earn 1.0 AIA learning unit.
| Aug 11, 2010
Great Solutions: Green Building
27. Next-Generation Green Roofs Sprout up in New York New York is not particularly known for its green roofs, but two recent projects may put the Big Apple on the map. In spring 2010, the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts will debut one of the nation's first fully walkable green roofs. Located across from the Juilliard School in Lincoln Center's North Plaza, Illumination Lawn will consist ...
| Aug 11, 2010
Pioneer Courthouse: Shaking up the court
In the days when three-quarters of America was a wild, lawless no-man's land, Pioneer Courthouse in Portland, Ore., stood out as a symbol of justice and national unity. The oldest surviving federal structure in the Pacific Northwest and the second-oldest courthouse west of the Mississippi, Pioneer Courthouse was designed in 1875 by Alfred Mullett, the Supervising Architect of the Treasury.
| Aug 11, 2010
Gold Award: Eisenhower Theater, Washington, D.C.
The Eisenhower Theater in the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., opened in 1971. By the turn of the century, after three-plus decades of heavy use, the 1,142-seat box-within-a-box playhouse on the Potomac was starting to show its age. Poor lighting and tired, worn finishes created a gloomy atmosphere.
| Aug 11, 2010
Giants 300 University Report
University construction spending is 13% higher than a year ago—mostly for residence halls and infrastructure on public campuses—and is expected to slip less than 5% over the next two years. However, the value of starts dropped about 10% in recent months and will not return to the 2007–08 peak for about two years.
