Environmental Design + Construction - October 2008 - (Page 41) Cool Roofing its expectations and has exceeded its life span,” said Roy Seville, Radford University’s director of facilities planning and construction. “We made the decision to go with Birdair again a few years ago when we foresaw that the roof would need to be replaced soon.” Dedmon Center’s new fabric roof, comprised of Tensotherm with Nanogel — the world’s first insulated fabric roofing material — will now also provide insulation to the facility, in addition to maintaining the aforementioned attributes. When completed, Dedmon Center’s new fabric membrane roofing system will be the first of its kind anywhere in the world. RESPONSIBLE RENOVATION Retrofit construction on Dedmon Center began in May 2008, upon which the project team took special measures to “green” the construction process. Dedmon Center’s steel tri-chord truss system was designed by Moseley Architects, Richmond, Va., in conjunction with Stroud Pence, Suffern, N.Y., and fabricated by Superior Steel, Baton Rouge, La. Branch and Associates, Roanoke, Va., serves as general contractor while Birdair Inc., Amherst, N.Y., serves as both engineer and roofing contractor. Tensotherm with Nanogel, a groundbreaking new product resulting from a collaboration between Birdair, Cabot Corporation and Geiger Engineers, solves the impor tant industry challenge of insulating fabric membrane. The material consists of a fabric layer incorporating Cabot Corporation’s Nanogel aerogel that is sandwiched between two pieces of structural PTFE fabric, creating an insulated inner layer that is energy efficient and reduces the need for increased ar tificial lighting. The fabric system is additionally lightweight — less than 2 inches thick — but with a notable insulation value of R-12. By retaining cool air in warm conditions and warm air in cold, Tensotherm with Nanogel increases thermal efficiency in a structure, meeting increasingly demanding energy and building codes required throughout Nor th America. The insulated fabric membrane material can additionally contribute to building LEED cer tification, satisfying credit categories including insulation, green materials, innovation and daylighting. In addition to longevity and insulation, Dedmon Center will benefit from Tensotherm’s variety of sustainable benefits, including enhanced durability, water repellence, fade resistance, solar heat gain READER SERVICE NO. CR04074Bamc.indd 1 Dedmon Center’s steel tri-chord truss system was designed by Moseley Architects in conjunction with Stroud Pence and fabricated by Superior Steel, Baton Rouge, La. 178 WWW.EDCMAG.COM/WEBCARD 3/22/07 2:26:55 41 Fall 2008 < Cool Roofing PM http://www.bamcoinc.org http://www.bamcoinc.org http://www.EDCmag.com/webcard
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