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It’s difficult to imagine Shake Shack as anything other than a trendy global food destination. But Shake Shack began just a few years ago in 2013, as a humble hot dog cart in Manhattan’s Madison Square. Today, the casual restaurant chain operates over 200 restaurants, each with its trademark sleek surfaces and modern look. With high-profile venues like Manhattan’s Grand Central Terminal, Washington’s DuPont Circle, and London’s Leicester Square, Shake Shack has to look the part to draw in customers.

Nationwide, severe weather and geological events are causing astronomical property damage. The consequence: communities strained by a loss of resources, security and access to shelter. Certain areas are so devastated that recovery seems next to impossible.... An increasing number of industry experts are proactively responding to these challenges by specifying more resilient building products. Standing-seam metal roofs, which offer superior protection against the elements, fit this category.

It's no wonder metal walls are popular in both commercial and residential construction. They offer a multitude of design capabilities and a sustainable barrier to weather. While most often utilized in commercial office, educational and manufacturing buildings, metal wall panels also have unique uses in residential homes and condos.

Working now as Product Manager for the new OneDek™ roof deck system from All Weather Insulated Panels, Mark Munley sees a revolutionary product. “I consider OneDek™ the most significant development within the commercial roofing space during my career,” he said.

Cable rail in-fill systems are increasingly being specified by architects and contractors. On the surface, the reasons appear obvious. The sleek, streamlined cables are well-suited for both indoor and outdoor settings, and complement a variety of architectural styles while helping to preserve the view. But the appeal goes much deeper.

Standard sizing of lumber products began nearly a century ago to create a shared understanding between the lumber mills and the markets. That same understanding is still required and is one of the reasons why Metl-Span's various factory-insulated metal wall and roof panel systems are offered in recommended standard sizes.

In late October 2018, Prescient began assembly of its 19th project in the Denver, CO area. Phase II of the Colorado Christian University (CCU) Resident Hall joins eight other buildings currently under construction using Prescient’s light-gauge steel framing system, accounting for more than 2.9 million square feet of construction.

In Europe, the use of insulated metal panels (IMPs) comprises about 50 percent of building projects in the commercial-industrial category. In North America, IMPs, though growing, remain in the minority – about one in 10 projects use them. More telling, however, is that the vast majority of IMPs in Europe are for roof applications. In America, it’s walls.

Whether it’s to entice blue-chip athletes or to appeal to the fitness interests of prospective students in general, colleges and universities know the importance of having facilities that make a good first impression. Fresh and modern is almost always a must and for both ground-up new construction projects and makeovers to existing structures, products from Banker Wire have shown to be an ideal design complement.

In 1999, CENTRIA launched Formawall® Dimension Series®, the first architectural insulated composite wall system in the industry to provide variable panel thickness, multiple reveal depths, and a variety of profiles. The latest evolution of Formawall enables the architectural community to push the envelope further and create a more sustainable building environment, thanks to the removal of red-list halogens from the product’s insulating foam core.

Contractors make their livings on the job site, not sitting at a desk, so estimating software is not the something they readily think about. Ray Smith of AppliCad USA wants that to change and in a bylined article, explains the time and cost savings associated with his company's industry-leading Roof Wizard roof and cladding software program.

While metal products have proven to offer many benefits when compared to competing cladding materials, few are as uniquely suited to exterior architectural applications as coil-anodized aluminum.

Integrated Project Delivery is often hailed as a collaborative process that increases project efficiency by bringing all stakeholders together early and often, eliminating misunderstandings and redundancies. In one case, however, its benefits were even greater, leading to the development of a new metal panel profile now offered by Morin, a Kingspan Group Company.

Duane Ellifritt, a renowned engineer, college professor and artist, and the first Director of Research and Engineering for the Metal Building Manufacturers Association, passed away January 22, 2018. Just a few days earlier, MBMA’s current Director of Research and Engineering, Lee Shoemaker, PE, Ph.D., was invited to the Ellifritt home in Gainesville, FL, where he interviewed Dr. Ellifritt about his life with MBMA, his teaching career and his love of art.

Normally, at this time of year, we have already forgotten all about winter and things like snow and ice. This year, however, is a little different. Our calendars say that spring is here, but winter has been clinging to relevance with all its might. If you are a home or building owner, this is the perfect time of year for you to begin thinking about – and researching – snow retention

What do you do when you decide to put a pool where you originally planned to install a solar power system and the roof won’t work? You get TRA Snow and Sun to help you think outside the box and create an innovative concept. That’s what contractors of a Bourne, Massachusetts home did when they encountered this issue on the project being constructed in a beautiful wooded area with a steep hillside at the back of the property.

Customer service is a hallmark of Showmotion, a mobile marketing company based in Denver, CO. The same can be said of Schweiss Doors, one of the world’s premier manufacturers of bifold, hydraulic and designer doors, many of which are custom designed. Schweiss recently supplied a hydraulic door for a custom trailer Showmotion was constructing for an oversees aircraft corporation. It was not only the door application that challenged Schweiss, it was the time frame. They needed the 28’ x 7’-11” hydraulic-actuated door—manufactured and installed—in just eight days!

The sleek, modern facing on the FL40 “flat” insulated metal wall panels (IMPs) from All Weather Insulated Panels often catches the attention of architects, designers and building owners. Adding to their appeal, says Bill Lowery, president of AWIP, are design features such as porthole windows and curved walls, and just about anything else. If it's possible with an insulated metal panel, it can be done with an All-Weather panel.

There is a lot of fuss being made about the use of drones in all sorts of applications and roofing is no exception. However, we should keep it in perspective. Drones certainly help capturing an image of a roof so that smart software tools can be used to scale and extract measurements, but the tools for scaling and extracting measurements have been around for decades.

Multiple environmental considerations must be taken into account when designing metal architectural systems, including curtain walls, panels, commercial windows, sunscreens and louvers. Fortunately, Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) and its associated tools are helping architecture/engineering/construction professionals address these considerations.