Kourou, French Guiana
1200 louvers and 85000 m of fixed slats for the Vocational Secondary School

The Elie Castor Secondary School in Kourou has over 800 pupils divided into four training paths installed in separate buildings. The 80-place boarding section residence, the sports hall and the administrative services are also in independent buildings. The Guiana Regional Council wished to build an attractive, functional and scalable school integrating the current environmental quality requirements and meeting the thermal and climatic standards. Since the local climate is equatorial, the temperature remains constant at around 26° but very humid. The louvers and fixed slats are ideal architectural solutions for ventilating the premises while preventing intrusion. The architects wished to differentiate their project by the use of frames with remarkable visual appeal and which respect the specification and its very stringent safety and resistance requirements. They therefore chose the SAFETYLINE Jalousie Louvers which also have the advantage of being available up to 1400 mm wide as standard, which allowed them to base the ornamental feature of their project on 1350 mm frames.

The Nouvelle Malvig company manufactured and installed the 1200 louvers and over 6000 m² of fixed slats. "Two fixed slat profiles were created in partnership with Technal for very high strength while retaining the slim lines dear to the architect" points out Virgile Guerineau, head of the Nouvelle Malvig Design Department. The first profile was used to produce an aluminium blade 20 mm thick with a pitch of 70 mm to ventilate the roof space in the boarding section residence, the classrooms, the dining room and the administrative buildings (3060 m² i.e. 9 050 x 5.5 m blades). The second profile was for an aluminium blade 100 mm thick with a pitch of 92 mm which was installed in the workshops and sports hall (2930 m² i.e. 6400 x 5.5 m blades). Virgile Guerineau, a historic Technal customer, confides "the architects were satisfied with the production and installation quality of the products but also with the reactivity and flexibility of our partner Technal. It is true that this partnership enabled us to optimise the project without increasing the initial budget. For example, we can mention the polyester thermal lacquering in two distinct colours on the blades for the workshops and the sports hall, chosen by the architect to increase the visual impact of the two buildings." Six months after opening, the Secondary School also seems to satisfy its users.

Owner: French Guiana Regional Council.
Owner's representative: S.I.M.K.O, Kourou
Prime Contractor: S.C.P Bruno GIRAUD & Laurent HECKLY Architects (Paris), Sylvia LAFONTAINE Architect (Cayenne)

Watch the video of the Kourou Secondary School

Attijari Bank, Tunis, Tunisia
100 % transparency, 0 % solar radiation

The new head office of the Attijari Bank will shortly host its 1400 staff in bright and open premises on open-plan platforms. The project consists of two buildings of around 30 m in height (Ground floor+7) adjacent to a low central building and with a total surface area of 35000 m². The programme also includes a gym, a restaurant, a sociocultural space and a multi-purpose conference hall. The convivial working environment appears to be one of the major challenges of this project designed by Moncef Debabi, the Tunis architect and lecturer at the National School of Architecture and Urbanism in Tunis and the Moroccan architect Aziz Lazrak. This environment is inseparable from light: "right from the project's design phase we wanted to create a totally transparent structure, open to the exterior, and with this transparency also found in the interior with open-plan offices" confides Moncef Debabi as if he wished to eliminate all separation between exterior and interior by designing buildings consisting of simple concrete slabs surrounded by an integral glass envelope.

The perfect transparency is due to the Technal GEODE facade with its Bonded Glazing, formed of large frames 830 mm x 255 mm. The bonded glass system renders the aluminium frame invisible and gives the facade a smooth appearance. The frames were manufactured and equipped with their glazing in the workshop and then installed by aerial platform by the MAS company based in Sfax, not far from Tunis. This technique allows projects to advance rapidly. Moncef Debabi estimates that "this facade meets our expectations both for its architectural beauty and thermal and acoustic performance and for its ease of manufacture. Here in Tunisia we share the French architectural culture, we work with the French DTUs (construction standards) and the Technal products suit us perfectly, especially when they are manufactured and installed by a quality company like MAS!"

MAS is the leader in Tunisia for aluminium joinery, it intervenes both at the international level and in Tunisia. In collaboration with Technal's Design Department, the MAS Design Department has developed the technical aspects of the project designed by Moncef Debabi and Aziz Lazrak.

Owner: Attijari Bank
Architects: Moncef Debabi, Tunisia and Aziz Lazrak, Morocco
Aluminium company: MAS (Menuiserie Aluminium du Sud), Tunisia

The Simulator Hall of the Lyon Aeronautical Training Centre
awarded at the Technal Architecture & Aluminium Award

Each year the Technal Architecture & Aluminium Award rewards the most beautiful architectural projects carried out in collaboration with an approved Technal-approved aluminium company. The 2011 Award's prize in the "WORK" category was won by the Simulator Hall of the Lyon Aeronautical Training Centre, a project with a remarkable contemporary design fully in line with the environmental standards. The rounded shape of the simulator hall illustrates that a contemporary and even daring design is fully compatible with high environmental quality: the administrative part of the building, insulated by the exterior, is classified VHEP (Very High Energy Performance).

The hall which was built at Lyon Airport is less than 13 m high to meet aircraft visibility requirements. It has a red aluminium roof assuring the construction a long lifetime. Technal's contribution was decisive in the success of this project built with the GEODE Grid system. In addition to its aesthetic performance, this cladding guarantees that the building's exterior is perfectly sealed and provides optimum protection against the elements. It must be noted that the sloping roof installed by the Technal- approved aluminium company Decotech was specially designed to adapt to the type of building.

Architecture agency: AT'LAS ARCHITECTES
Photographer: Jordi Canosa
Technal-approved aluminium company: Decotech (69)

Watch the architect interview

Museo del Ladrillo, La Plata, Argentina
When glass rehabilitates brick

Here, earth, water, air and fire have together fashioned brick for almost a century. Today, aluminium and glass add slim lines and transparency of volumes to these natural elements to transform the Ctibor family brickworks into an emblematic museum of contemporary art: the Museo del Ladrillo (Brick Museum).
The Fundacion Espacio Ctibor which manages the historic site entrusted architect Guillermo Rùben Garcia with the rehabilitation of the structure to receive a large number of visitors without altering the historic building. The architect created an extension which associates the clarity of glass and modernity of aluminium with the classicism of the thick-jointed brick walls. The technical features of the GEODE Trame Horizontale curtain walling allowed significant volumes to be built, with large glass panels (7 m²) supporting a weight of over 200 kg. The daring and reassuring glass envelope reflects the park's many different species of trees and offers the visitor exceptional lighting with immediately perceptible thermal and acoustic comfort. The GEODE facade and the TOPAZE sliding systems were manufactured and installed by the Orion Aluminio company.

Owner: Fundacion Espacio CTIBOR
Architect: Guillermo Rubén García
Products: Geode Curtain Walling, Topaze Sliding Systems.
Aluminium joinery manufactured by: Orion Aluminio

Occultation + Ventilation = Safetyline Jalousie Louver

The SAFETYLINE Jalousie Louver system is one of Technal's historic products which has contributed to the brand's worldwide renown thanks to its exceptional design and excellent technical performance. The SAFETYLINE Jalousie Louver is destined both for the tertiary sector (offices, schools, secondary schools, hospitals, etc.) and the private residential sector, it gave its reputation to this occultation and ventilation frame which is very popular with architects like Sylvia Lafontaine who used the product on the Kourou Secondary School in French Guiana (see article STUDYING).

The SAFETYLINE Jalousie concept is base on a square-jointed fixed frame. Blade hinges and protection are by polyamide overlapping flanges providing an 80° opening.

With a break-in resistance meeting level 2 of the standard, the SAFETYLINE Jalousie Louver system offers an excellent level of security. Its impact resistance of 900 Joules is the standard required for guardrails in Europe.

Technal innovates and wins the Batimat 2011
Innovation prize

Technal and the Jacques Ferrier Architectures agency joined forces with the backing of ADEME, the French public agency responsible for developing energy management, environmental management and ecodesign. This research resulted in the presentation of an innovative design on the Technal stand at Batimat: the folding facade with photovoltaic glazing a Batimat Innovation Award (silver medal).

This facade is designed for the tertiary and residential renovation market and is installed as a second skin with sufficient space for natural ventilation which prevents the photovoltaic cell overheating. The facade folds vertically or horizontally to present an angle of incidence optimising the surface exposed to the sun and also amplifying the glazed surface: when installed vertically, for example, every second glazed panel has photovoltaic cells, the other does not. The modular elements with photovoltaic cells provide sun shading and the nonphotovoltaic panels let through natural light to prevent darkening the interior of the building. The horizontal or vertical position of the folds is determined by the architect according to the aesthetic design of his project and to the direction and location of the building, but also according to the aesthetic design of his project

This research, which will continue during 2012, enables the Jacques Ferrier Architectures agency to develop a new materiality for the double-skinned facade concept by combining it with photovoltaic solar systems.

Watch the facade concept presentation

Technal boosts its brand awareness through Trade Fairs

Technal takes part in most of the trade fairs in countries where the brand is present. It adapts the choice of products presented, the stand design and the event's communication to the market concerned. This reactivity and flexibility of the brand is illustrated by two examples: the Glasstech Asia Exhibition which takes place each year in a South East Asian country and Archibat which is held in the Ivory Coast.

Glasstech Asia in Jakarta (Indonesia) enabled Technal to receive around a hundred professional visitors who were able to discover, over 126 m², the wide range and versatility of Technal products. Products meeting the expectations of the regional market: these included two versions of the GEODE curtain wall, horizontal frame and smooth facade effect, the SUNEAL sun shade and its application with integrated photovoltaic modules, the SAFETYLINE motorised louver, the PPM folding door, the LUMEAL slider and the SOLEAL casement offer. "The most noticed product was uncontestably the GALENE lift-and-slide sliding system presented on the stand in a right-angled application without corner post and with 3 m wide leaves" says Remi Rezeck El-Zouki, HBS South East Asia Sales Manager for Thailand, Singapore and Australia. "The Technal stand was extremely successful with around a hundred visitors and, in addition to the number, this success was due to the quality of the visitors who are architects, consultants and property developers." During a seminar on sustainable development technologies organised by Glasstech Asia, Remi Rezeck El-Zouki was able to meet consultants and well-known architects and invite them to two Technal presentation meetings in Singapore.

Return to the African continent with the 3rd Archibat Exhibition in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. ADS (Aluminium Distribution Systèmes), Technal's exclusive distributor for this country, presented on its stand the products which the company keeps permanently in stock: doors, the TOPAZE sliding and casement windows and patio doors, the GYPSE balustrade and the single glazing GEODE curtain wall. For Ludovic Joubert, ADS General Manager, "our presence at this exhibition has allowed us to multiply the contacts with the future customers and reinforce the Technal brand and its distributor ADS in the market. Over 300 visitors signed our Guestbook and 900 visitors took our brochure! With products perfectly adapted to the regional context, Technal is destined to become a major player in the construction industry, and all the more so because economic life is returning to normal and because there are initial signs of projects restarting." An optimism shared by Guillaume Koffi, Chairman of the Architects' Association who visited the stand and took part in the Technal presentation seminar organised by Ludovic Joubert. "Around sixty professionals, architects, entrepreneurs and also project owners and principal contractors listened with interest to this presentation with Lionel Journé, Technal International Manager and Sébastien Briand, Technal Manager Africa."

Happy New Year!

2011 was a year rich in innovation for the Technal brand.
Thanks to regular, constructive exchanges with construction industry professionals, architects, design offices, economists and metal builders we have been able to develop our offer to meet your needs and expectations more efficiently.
For this we thank you and extend our Best Wishes to you for success in your initiatives and projects in 2012.