RVI Installs Bespoke Louvre System and Fire Retardant Panels at Panorama Health Care Centre
Panorama Health Care Centre is a 400 bed multi-disciplinary acute care hospital situated in Panorama, Cape Town. Since opening in August 1986, the hospital has established itself as a referral hospital for the Cape Town Metropole and surrounding areas with referrals from as far as Namibia. It was the first hospital built by Mediclinic Southern Africa.
When the time came for upgrades to be done at this first of its kind Mediclinic, the Architectural Solutions division of RVI was called on to complete bespoke aesthetic thermal and light control façade solutions. RVI boasts the in-house ability to design, engineer and manufacture, as well as install and commission application-specific custom solar shading systems for any building application or process. Solar shading and sun screening systems form an integral part of modern architecture, in view of the current trend toward designing eco-friendly and energy efficient buildings, for both commercial and recreational requirements. Modern sun shading systems are intelligently controlled and offer tremendous energy savings. Correctly installed, these systems can reduce artificial lighting and air-conditioning usage by up to 40%.
A horizontal key square sun shading louvre system, 150 x 30 right-hand-side (RHS, rectangular hollow section) blade tubular sun shading louvre system and vertical key square sliding sun shading louvre system were chosen to complete this project. The tubular louvre system is a fixed external sun shading system that can reduce solar heat gain, lower air conditioning running costs and lessen glare whilst maximising the use of natural daylight. Each screen runs on its own track, as to allow the screens to slide easily past one another. Track stops installed on either end or on both top tracks prevent the louvres from slamming into the walls.
Each sliding panel is fitted with a flush pull handle and hold-back catch, should the user need to keep the panel in position. The key square panel cross sectional slats are set vertically in one direction and angled at 45°. The entire panel is powder-coated to a standard Architectural RAL colour.
RVI made use of Alcobond Fire Retardant panels that were installed over an area of 399m2. Cladding is a protective or insulating layer fixed to the outside of a building, which serves a dual-purpose of improving the appearance of the building and helping guard against the elements. Alcobond Industries South Africa (Pty) Ltd, is the sole South African importer and distributor of Alcofort™ Aluminium Composite panels which are manufactured by Alcobond Composite Industries LLC located in the UAE.
