Western Sydney University – Liverpool Campus

Description

A-Tech Australia is proud to have been the supplier and installer of the Western Sydney University’s external façade materials. Over 120 tonnes of aluminium extrusions, over 6,000 square metres of glass and over 5,000 litres of high-performance structure silicone went into this project that was completed over three months.

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Challenges

The A-Tech Australia team had the following challenges with the building’s façade.

The heavily faceted and structurally-glazed façade contained a multiple angled connection.
The combination of having some sections of the façade with capped vertical glass edges as well as exposed edges.

Our Approach

For the façade system design, our team used a double-skin façade with internal window walls and external curtain walls hanging off the secondary steel structure. The structural glazed façade panels contained a mix of capped and uncapped joints. We utilised gasketed connections between mullions and façade panels mitre cut in the corners.

The building’s structural design and engineering was based on wind loading and building movements. Depending on the size of the panels, we used either 150mm and 175mm deep sections. For thermal performance modelling, soft-coated low-E glass and double-glazing was used for the internal façade to satisfy the Section J requirement together with the tinted external façade glazing to further improve the Solar Heat Gain Coefficient (SHGC) factor. Powder coat testing was conducted by a third party to assure the performance required for AAMA2604. A compatibility report was made by Dow Corning upon supplying all the substrates that may have interaction with structural and weather sealants.

All manufacturing & installation drawing documentation manuals, part drawings, manufacturing drawings and installation drawings prepared for this system were custom-designed. For quality control, a quality assurance plan was prepared for fabrication and quality control checklists filled for every fabricated façade panel. A builder’s façade consultant reviewed and approved the surface design drawings, reports and inspected the factory and site.

To accommodate the multiple angles connection, A-Tech Australia designed a façade system that would include a gasketed connection between the mullions to achieve flexibility in the adjustment of the angle of connection. For the challenge of capped and exposed vertical glass edges, we created a system for the screws with beads on the structurally-glazed panel.