Fall guard protection & solar protection: façade made from aluminum spiral mesh

Thanks to its flexible formability, transparency, and robustness, metal mesh from GKD impresses as an attractive solar protection façade and stable fall guard protection on the “Krypton Park-and-Ride” parking garage rotunda in Aix-en-Provence in the south of France. For the façade cladding of the largest parking garage in the intercommunal area of Aix-Marseille-Provence, architect Marc Dalibard opted for the shimmering, silver-colored aluminum spiral mesh Licorne 24a.

The façade of the rotunda was completely clad with 865 m² of the spiral fabric. With tailored mesh panels, the flexible metal fabric molds seamlessly to the curved form of the building. Its highly transparent structure ensures an unencumbered view and provides natural building ventilation while allowing ample daylight into the building. Which means that the metal fabric façade also contributes to considerable energy savings for lighting. In addition, the woven façade skin offers efficient solar protection and serves as reliable fall guard protection. For mounting, the fabric was hung freely with spirals and integrated flat profiles top and bottom, with four intermediate mounting levels. Despite its seemingly delicate structure, the aluminum fabric used is robust, weather-resistant, and durable.