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Project Details

Fabric 1

ETFE Nowoflon
Producer/Manufacturer: Nowofol GmbH
Primary Use: Main Fabric

Design Company
Taiyo Europe GmbH

Architect Company
ArC2 Fabryka Projektowa

Fabrication Company
Taiyo Europe GmbH

Subcontractor Company
Taiyo Europe GmbH

Project Manager Company
Taiyo Europe GmbH

Installation Company
Taiyo Europe GmbH

Please describe the project specifications

The ZOO Orientarium in the city of Łódź (Poland) was built to house exemplars of the fauna and flora of Southeast Asia. The facility includes pavilions, aviaries, and aquariums for up to 50 different species. Its design was conceived so to allow the different exhibitions to be interconnected to each other, creating spacious enclosures for large animals and protected aviaries on the same space. This solution gives the animals freedom of behavior, and the visitors the opportunity to observe animals in conditions as close to nature as possible.
A key element to ensure the feasibility of the project intent above described is the roof, which had to provide natural daylight, being of a lightweight nature, at the same time providing an insulation against the cold winter days (average -5oC) while energetically-efficient keeping an internal Savannah-like temperature.
Therefore, the solution was a 5-layer ETFE air inflated pneumatic cushion structure with a special anti-condensation clamping system, which combined provide insulation (Ug) of 1,1W/m2K. This system is used on a 4.200 sq.m. surface spread on across 10 different Skylights and 66 individual air inflated cushions.
Our company was commissioned with the design development, thermal analysis, shop drawings, engineering, fabrication and installation of the complete ETFE 5-layers air inflation system and special anti-condensation clamping, which together ensured the necessary structural, visual and thermal performance required. The conclusion of the inflated and insulated roof project has been achieved on February.22.

What is unique or complex about the project?

The project's size, material selection and location fit perfectly our company portfolio. However, its technical uniqueness called our attention.
The intricated geometry of the ETFE pneumatic roof initially envisioned by the architect was of complex execution and could not deliver the system thermal performance required by the project. Therefore, our company worked closely with the General Contractor from early stage in order to define the best system configuration and clamping solution to economically achieve the demanding thermal performance required.
The Value Engineering solution found considered a sequence of 5-layer ETFE air inflated cushions. Due to its complexity, this system is seldomly used, and required our company to asses in detail the inflation system so to allow each chamber to receive the necessary unique pressure, consequently ensuring the separation of all layers under all design scenarios.
In addition, to achieve the necessary thermal performance, our company developed a unique anti-frosting clamping system, which at the end provided the client with a cost and performance efficient solution. All these items together set this project apart from others we have executed on the past year.

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