These recent facades—made from a range of materials—help architects push the envelope.
Fortress Cladding
Fabricated with 60% bamboo fiber and 40% recycled plastic, Fortress cladding offers a hybrid-wood alternative for rainscreen and facade applications while successfully recreating the warmth of the real thing. The boards are UV-, fade-, and moisture-resistant, and emulate wood-grain textures and colors including charred cedar, Swedish oak, Alaskan driftwood, and Brazilian teak, among others.
fortressbp.com
Double 7" 3G Straight Edge Perfection Shingle
CertainTeed has updated its Signature Cedar Impressions Siding series with this new double-course 3G profile, which features slanted, tapered gaps that create deeper shadow—a format that requires fewer fasteners compared to single-course siding installation—and a measurement guide built right into the top of each shingle. It’s available in a choice of 22 colors.
certainteed.com
Terraçade
Glen-Gery’s new ceramic facade system is not only attractive, it also simplifies the specification and installation processes with its wide selection of suspension rails, corner extrusions, fitment sponges, and installation-guide tool. The fire-resistant, colorfast system comprises panels in two sizes, as well as baguettes.
glengery.com
ThinCast
At ¾" thick, High Concrete Group’s ThinCast is, to date, the thinnest precast-concrete rainscreen available, giving architects the ability to design with concrete without the extra weight. The panels are available in six sizes and eight colors, and only weigh 10 pounds per square foot, thanks to stainless-steel prestressing wires.
highconcrete.com
Specular
These 12 metal skins from Pure + FreeForm are designed to interact with light through shape, texture, and color. These range from a shark-fin profile in a dark gray hue to a micro-corrugation in an oxidized-steel finish. Available in panel or flat-sheet form, the surface products can be used on exterior or interior walls, ceilings, soffits, and more.
purefreeform.com
