Designed by the architectural firm Grupo ARKHOS, the Chihuahua’s Businessmen Foundation (FECHAC) Regional Office in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico, embodies FECHAC’s core values of giving, common good, solidarity and subsidiarity through four 40-foot-tall, 13-foot-wide volumes on the primary façade, clad in tessellated Reynobond Aluminum Composite Material (ACM). “The choice of material was essential to the success of the project,” said Rubén Escobar Urrutia, LEED AP, Director General of Grupo ARKHOS. “The brightness of the metallic color and the way in which it reflects the desert sun plays an important role in defining the building’s image. We had to be confident that the material would retain its flatness after it was folded, that the folds would be crisp and that the quality of the finish and color would be consistent throughout the panels. Durability was also an essential attribute. We expect the FECHAC building to look pristine 35 years from now, with minimal maintenance. Reynobond was the natural choice.”
Reynobond composite materials can be bent or folded, routed or curved, and roll-formed or cut to create complex geometric designs that cannot be fabricated with conventional building materials. “The FECHAC project is a superb example of the creative use of Reynobond as a primary architectural element,” stated George Rosado, Commercial Director for Alcoa Architectural Products. “Today, architects are limited only by their imaginations. Reynobond provides an extremely versatile palette to work with that is further enhanced by brilliant color options and extreme durability.”
When none of the local installers were willing to fold the panels in the way Escobar Urrutia envisioned, he decided to train his carpenters to install the material. “They are used to working with wood panels, and working with Reynobond is similar.”
The facility was designed using USGBC LEED-NC v3 green building principles as a guide, and uses 15,000 square feet of 4-mm Reynobond ACM, PE core, with a Silver Duragloss 5000 coating. Constructora MAYAB, Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico, was the general contractor; Metales Internacionales, Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico, was the panel fabricator; and Grupo ARKHOS, Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico, was the panel installer.
For more information about Reynobond materials, please contact the Alcoa Architectural Products manufacturing plant at 800-841-7774 or visit www.reynobond.com.
*LEED is a registered trademark of the U.S. Green Building Council.