It takes a strong and imaginative mind, coupled with in-depth technical knowledge and an artistic flair, to create a truly unique residential design. As a founder and principal of the design firm Electroland, architect Cameron McNall is known for incorporating fine art into his design concepts and his most recent project, the Tivoli House, is no exception.
McNall is a multi-talented architect and a noted artist, sculptor, fabricator and builder who challenges himself to discover creative applications for building materials. The Tivoli House's elaborate hanging façade serves as an expansive ornamental screen decorated by a silhouette of a field of flowers, giving dimension and visual interest to the home's rectangular structure and front view.
The dense floral pattern is intricately fabricated into the full expanse of the hanging exterior, offering only glimpses of the two-story home’s stuccoed and glazed inner wall. To add further impact and a multi-layer dimension to the design, the façade was extended and hung nine inches beyond the home’s inner structure.
Front and center to the home’s outward appearance, McNall wanted to attach the screen in a way that would enable it to hang independently from the structure rather than simply serving as covering on the building itself. Seeking a material that was light enough to hang but strong enough to maintain its rigidity, McNall turned to ALPOLIC® metal composite materia, manufactured by Mitsubishi Chemical Composites Americas Inc. of Chesapeake, VA.
Although the exterior of the Tivoli House represents the first time ALPOLIC’s metal composite wall panel product was used in such an atypical application, it proved to be the ideal material thanks to its weight and stability compared to aluminum sheet. The material is also versatile. It can be fabricated into limitless shapes using CNC machinery.
The home incorporates 3,100 square-feet of ALPOLIC PE aluminum composite metal wall panels, finished in Valspar Valflon® architectural exterior coating in Black. The coating was selected for its ability to provide superior color consistency, adhesion, flexibility and formability properties for the metal wall panels.
Valflon coatings are durable FEVE fluoropolymer based resins, which help create a distinguished appearance without sacrificing on performance. Easy to maintain, they are resistant to air-borne chemicals and provide advanced protection against weathering, chalking and fading. The Valflon coating finish on the metal wall panels also removed the need for custom painting, and enabled the creation of the floral forms in a cost-effective manner.
The façade’s unique hanging system required approval from the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety. ALPOLIC performed the necessary testing and documentation to secure the Los Angeles Research Report (LARR) approval. Once the LARR number was obtained, ample redundancies in the riveting system incorporated and trusses installed for added stability in high winds, McNall was able to obtain approval to bring the Tivoli House’s design forward to completion.
The strong teamwork between Valspar (now Sherwin Wiliams) and ALPOLIC enabled McNall and his firm to create a residential design that fulfilled the homeowner’s dreams and achieve incomparable aesthetics – all backed by solid form and function.
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