Façade Cladding in Australia: Spotlight on Network Architecture

While most people assume that the indoor interiors of a house matter more for the functionality of a house, that is actually not true because the way a house appears on the outside is what makes it fascinating to look at and attracts you towards it. Moreover, there are also features and materials that you can only use outdoors while renovating or building a house, which will help you in the long run, such as solar panels. 

This is the case for almost every building, ranging from a commercial space to a healthcare facility or from an educational facility to an industrial workspace or even when we talk about a house where a family will live. All of these situations require materials that will perform their respective functions and will last a long time, in addition to looking fantastic, which will change the overall mood of your house. 

This is why you should learn that these renovations are not just a part of making a house look pretty but also contribute to the overall performance of a house in terms of reliability and usability.   

Network Architectural is Australia’s exclusive distributor of some of the construction industry’s leading façade products.

Key Takeaways

• Façade cladding has multiple features attached to it because it kills two birds with one stone. This is because this process actually solves and enhances the purpose for which a building is made, and secondly, it enhances the architect’s desired aesthetic, thus giving life to the entire building. For example, a lighter colour in an area where light continuously falls looks aesthetic, but since the light is continuous in that area, that region is bound to be hotter than the rest of the place, and that is why a light shade repels heat rather than absorbing it, which is what a dark paint would do.

• There are things that are more important than building the property itself, and these are directly related to safety as well as the people living around you. This is why features like fire safety, compliance, or the durability of a particular property or an appliance installed in that property are things that both architects and building owners tend to look closely at. This is why Network Architectural, which is one of the leading cladding distributors of Australia over a wide range of solutions which can be applied for different types of buildings and jobs. These solutions are made possible for a variety of properties, including high-rise buildings, large-scale apartments, and even industrial, commercial, educational, or medical projects. 

• The solution portfolio has multiple options, including ALPOLIC™ NC/A1 DtS, which is an aluminium cladding with a non-combustible feature. Moreover, the portfolio also includes alternatives like ALPOLIC™/fr, which is an aluminium cladding. Natural wood veneer cladding like PARKLEX and fibre cement cladding like CEMINTEL + CSR are also a good choice of options present in the portfolio. All of these options are considered the top priority because these materials can actually fit the design of any building. They also have easy application and unique performance benefits that can elevate a building both in its look and in its performance.  

 Table Of Content 

1. What is Façade Cladding?
2. Façade Solution at Network Architectural
3. Final Thoughts 
4. FAQs

What is Façade Cladding?

Façade cladding is one of the most unique processes which is involved during the making of a building. 

This process actually adds a non- structural layer of material to the exterior of a building so that the building has a better look, as well as becomes more efficient in its performance. There are a variety of factors which can be catered to using this type of cladding because this cladding is actually easy in its application and definitely uplifts the entire efficiency of a building rather than just being superficial. 

This is why most people also consider this a second skin that is added to the building, and the skin has multiple benefits like: 

• This layering actually protects the building from a lot of factors that are not in our control, like rain or wind, and even pollution at its extreme. Moreover, these materials are also UV resistant, which means that they can reduce the impact created by UV rays and hence can make a building look much cleaner and newly built even after a few years. 
• Because these materials were built primarily for the exteriors of a building, the first feature that the designers had in mind was to make these materials good-looking so that when they are used outside a house, they actually look good while solving a problem. This is why these materials actually change the overall appearance of a building and make it look much more modern. 
• These materials also have a tendency to provide thermal insulation to the house on which they are used. This is why it is always a good option to use these materials if you live in a cold region because, without using a lot of heaters or electricity, these materials will provide natural warmth. 
• Materials or substances like these also have characteristics of improving energy efficiency, which means that some of the materials used in the exterior of the house like solar panels, can actually use a renewable source of energy which is both good for the planet because of its sustainability and also helps reduce the cost of a house that it spends on electricity in inorganic ways. 
• Because this material acts like a second skin on the building, the moisture and chemicals stay off the building, and these materials help control the moisture within the building, thus avoiding many commonly observed household problems like leakage.

There are other commonly observed materials that are used for the enhancement of a building, and one such material amongst these cladding substances is a non-combustible one because this not only helps in enhancing the appearance of a building, but it also ensures that the building is fire-safe. This means that it will avoid fires in the building and, in case a fire starts, it will ensure minimal damage.  

Just like any other feature in a household, cladding materials also have their own range. This means that the overall appearance and efficiency of a house also depends on the kind of material that is used for maintaining the façade exteriors of a house. 

The most commonly used materials that can be observed in diverse workspaces, ranging from medical and educational facilities to Industrial and household spaces, are metal, fibre cement, glass, ceramic, wood, timber, or even brick in some cases. All of these materials are a good choice if you want to have a good exterior for your house but understanding which material suits the kind of environment you live in the requirements that you have is a must. 

 This is because every material has its own advantages and disadvantages and the benefits which a glass material would provide you will not be possible to be offered by a metal material. Moreover, these materials are hard to define through their advantages because all of them have fairly similar kinds of work and benefits; however, understanding the disadvantages helps you understand which kind of material you would want to avoid.

This is because some materials are harder to apply compared to the rest of the materials. Moreover, a lot of materials like glass or ceramic are expensive and cannot be found very easily in markets, whereas metals are cheaper and thus are an option that most people often go for if they have a huge space that they want to cover. Moreover, understanding that each material requires a different kind of maintenance is also essential, and checking the potential combustibility of a material is a must.

Façade Solutions at Network Architectural

Network Architectural is one of the leading companies that sells cladding materials to people with a wide range of options. This company is actually located in NSW and has trade customers all over Australia. The company has reached such great heights because of the wide range of solutions it offers to its customers, along with high-quality façade materials.

One of the most interesting features about this company is that it is exclusively Australian, which means that you cannot get the goods of this company anywhere except Australia, and this is probably one of the reasons why they are able to sell such good-quality products to their customers. The company is actually a distributor of world-class products to architects and building owners while still ensuring that the products that they sell are safe and durable for the environment as well as for the building on which they will be used.

(They also offer innovative ceiling solutions.)

This company is actually unique in the way it functions because it not only provides good quality exterior designs for its customers, but it also develops new products and systems of its own that solve the problems of its customers while still making sure that they get clean products which are also safe for the environment.

The company also hires experts in this industry so that people who are new clients or have no clue about what kind of exterior they want to get for their space have an expert opinion as well as suggestions on which materials to use. These employees help clients pick out the right material for their space according to what the client likes and what they require.

Unlike any other company that only helps a client choose what material they would like, these experts actually help a client end-to-end, which means that they not only help a client decide what material to buy, but they also help a client understand how to apply it and what people they should hire according to their requirements. 

Façade product offerings at Network Architectural include:

ALPOLIC™ NC/A1

Engineered by Mitsubishi Chemical Infratec Co., Ltd. solely for the Australian market and designed for our nation’s unique environmental and climate conditions, ALPOLIC™ NC/A1 is a superior DtS non-combustible aluminium cladding product. It is crafted from thin aluminium sheets bonded to a non-combustible mineral core, and is the premier architectural cladding choice for commercial, industrial, multi-residential, educational, healthcare, and other projects for which exceptional fire safety performance and durability are imperative. It is a versatile, lightweight, sustainable, recyclable product that comes with a 20-year full manufacturer’s replacement warranty and, perhaps most importantly, has the highest possible fire safety rating with the Insurance Council of Australia. It also passes Euroclass A1, which is the world’s strictest fire protection standard.

ALPOLIC™/fr

Designed for high-end residential and low-rise/small-scale commercial facades, ALPOLIC™/fr is another versatile aluminium composite panel product that is among the world’s safest cladding products. Built to withstand Australia’s climate, it is fire-safety tested and Code Mark Certified to the Building Code in Australia. Suitable for installation on buildings up to 18 metres tall, it comes with the same industry-leading warranty as ALPOLIC™NC/A1 and offers a wide range of colours and finishes for unrivalled design flexibility.

PARKLEX

This Spanish-made natural wood veneer cladding product is designed for high-end projects and may be applied to interior and exterior walls. It is scratch- and impact-resistant, and the sustainably sourced natural wood panels are treated with synthetic resin and a UV-resistant PVDF film that offers protection and resistance to weather, pollution, and graffiti. It is a durable, maintenance-free solution that comes with a 10-year product warranty.

This product is not classified as non-combustible. It can, however, be stylishly combined as an accent alongside DtS non-combustible aluminium cladding (as, for example, at Revesby Warehouse).

CEMINTEL + CSR

Prefinished fibre cement cladding is a non-combustible material. Cemintel (“Cement Intelligence”) from CSR offers a range of prefinished lightweight cement-based cladding systems that feature fibre cement panels and cement-bonded fibrous wood-particle panels. These prefinished systems suit installation on internal or external walls (and even ceilings) and are incredibly versatile. Product lines can be combined, matched, and integrated into mixed façade systems that use other materials (including brick or concrete).

Final Thoughts

There are multiple things which you should account for before you ever decide to buy an exterior material to change the façade of the exterior of your space.

This is because you will require different materials according to the kind of look you want and the requirements and expectations which you have with the material as to what job it will carry out. These materials can range widely in terms of their advantages and disadvantages because some of them are expensive but easy to apply, whereas others are cheap but the maintenance cost and routine are highly demanding.

This is why knowing what you want is a good place to start, and if you are still confused about it,t then Network Architectural is where you have to go. This is one of the leading companies in Australia that provides cladding materials. Since this company exclusively sells its product only in Australia the quality is top notch and they also develop their own systems and unique designs to help solve the problem of their customers further.

This company actually provides a wide range of solutions in its portfolio which means that you can go to the same place for getting industrial materials as well as to get residential cladding materials as this company can suit both of the requirements perfectly well. The company is also staffed with highly skilled individuals who not only help you in picking out the perfect material for your requirements, but they also manage the entire process with you from picking out the material to installing it.

This is why, if you are new to this entire thing and have no clue where to start, then Network Architectural is the way to go.

FAQs

1. Why does external façade matter in a household? 

The external façade of a house is what makes you attracted to that house in the first place. This is why this is the feature or the part of the house that sets the tone and mood for the rest of the house, including the interiors. Moreover, most people get this wrong because they think that exterior decoration is only used for display purposes, but that is not true because the exterior of a house also designs the overall performance of a house. For example, if you use a darker shade to paint the outside walls of a house in a hot region, then all the heat will be attracted towards the house, whereas choosing a lighter shade will help dissipate that heat and make the interior of the house feel much cooler. This is why the exterior matters more than people think. 

2. Do exteriors only matter in a household space? 

No, exteriors of a house are equally as important as exteriors in any other place which means that commercial spaces, industrial spaces, educational or medical facilities all have to be given attention when talking about their exterior because the features of exterior applied to all spaces similarly with only a few changes made according to what the space requires. Just because you do not live inside a medical facility does not mean that it requires any less attention than a house space. 

3. Why is façade cladding important? 

This is because cladding materials actually solved a lot of problems instead of just one. For example because the primary reason for which these materials were built was to put on the exteriors of a house that is why extreme caution was dedicated to how these materials made the house look from the outside. This is why these materials change the appearance of a house and make the house more efficient. Moreover, these materials also help with the energy efficiency of a household, and they keep a house thermally insulated, which is one of the major reasons why you should get materials like this on your exterior if you live in a cold region. 

4. How to decide which material to buy for my house? 

There are multiple options of cladding materials available in the market today, which means that there is a wide range of options to choose from. This can make the entire process a little frustrating if you do not understand what kind of material you have to buy according to your requirements. Materials like glass, ceramic, and metal along with a few other options, are available and in order to understand which one you have to buy you need to understand each material’s own set of advantages and disadvantages. Some materials are easier to maintain or take care of, whereas others are harder to install; this is why you should be very vigilant in which material you buy. 

5. Why is Network Architectural a good option? 

This company exclusively sells its products in Australia, which means that the products are of extremely high quality and the staff here are experts in this industry; that is why these people will help you pick out the perfect material for your requirements as well as manage the entire process from picking out the material to installing it. Moreover, this company produces a wide range of products, which means that this is a one-stop solution for all your requirements, whether it is an industrial one or a residential one. This company also makes sure that the products that it uses and sells are all safe for the environment, thus making the company sustainable.