FRP FACADE FOR RAK GATEWAY
Premier Composite Technologies (PCT) is proud to have worked together with international architect Snohetta on a prototype, composite facade panel for the new Snohetta-designed tower that will mark the gateway to Ras Al Khaimah.
The tower will be furnished with an innovative building envelope, meaning the exterior is fully structurally clad and is delivered to site as an ”all in one“ unit that is attached to the building slabs without further substructure. This process requires each exterior panel to be fully insulated and to incorporate all external structural skin and surface finishes, all components such as doors and windows and the fixing grid for the plasterboard interior fit-out.
The prototype facade panel built by PCT, measures 8x4m and is just one of approximately 1000 required to clad the entire building. Each panel has a complex bi-axial curved shape and is made from a sandwich of glass fibre and epoxy resin composites with a structural foam core and is fully insulated to reach an optimum U-value. Structural bonded glass windows are built into the facade and each panel is decorated in contemporary ceramic slabs in a repetitive geometric pattern.
To construct the entire tower facade, the panels will be hoisted up by crane and will be connected to each other with a watertight bolted, panel to panel connection, allowing significant cost and time savings.
