Why Designers are Choosing Unitized Building Envelope Solutions

Reimagining architectural possibilities.

In the world of architecture, bringing a designer’s aesthetic vision to life shouldn’t mean compromising due to practical challenges. Costly overruns, limited material options, and design restrictions no longer need to stand in the way of your project’s success. Many architects are turning to newer building methods, such as a lightweight unitized building envelope solution to achieve their design goals. The architectural capabilities of these systems have significantly broadened in recent years, enabling designers to do more with less.

These new integrated scope cladding solutions, like Infinite Facade™, provide architects with aesthetic flexibility in a singular lightweight unitized panel, incorporating a range of finishes, features and materials—making it possible to achieve unique and striking designs.

Design flexibility meets architectural needs.

Integrated scope cladding solutions offer several architectural design benefits. They are highly adaptable and capable of working with various structural systems such as cast-in-place, steel, and precast, providing versatility. Additionally, they support high window-to-wall ratios, meaning window sizes are not restricted, allowing designers to create exteriors that enhance building aesthetics while maximizing natural light and creating more inviting spaces. The flexibility of these systems is also notable, as customized panel heights, layouts, and articulation allow easy to integrate with any structural floor height, accommodating a wide range of building types.

An attractive feature of Infinite Facade is its versatility, allowing architectural expression with expansive finish options. For example:

  • Diverse Finishes: it can support various architectural finishes, enabling designers to create visually appealing facades that resonate with their design intent, from sleek modern surfaces to textured traditional looks.
  • Material Integration: Materials such as brick, terracotta, stone, and metal panels can be integrated into the panels offering designers versatile options.
  • Custom Forming Technology: The panel’s design capabilities allow for creative shapes and depths to enhance a building’s visual impact. Formliners allow manufacturers to give a custom design appearance with the ability to replicate various building materials, providing architects with the freedom to achieve the desired aesthetic more economically than with site-installed material.

The power of prefabrication.

Manufactured in a controlled environment, a unitized building envelope solution ensures quality control and minimizes on-site labor. Using advanced engineering and manufacturing technologies that can enhance the panels’ integrity, visual appearance and uniformity, to achieve the architectural vision.

And every step of the way, prefabricators are available to guide the designer in how to practically and affordably achieve their design intent without compromise.

Starting your next facade project? Find out how Wells can help you. Contact Wells today.


This article was authored by Jace Rossow and was originally published on wellsconcrete.com.