Kalwall: Keeping the Faith in a Cold Land
Arabic architecture comes largely from hotter climates, noted Barr Ryder Architects & Interior Designers; hotter, certainly, than Alberta, Canada, home of the Edmonton Islamic Academy. Such structures also favor the use of natural materials, leaning towards a masonry skin with a white or off-white color that reflects light. That wasn't going to work in construction suitable for our northern climate. To begin with, this far above the equator, light would have to be brought in, not reflected away. For this house of faith, we needed to tell the story architecturally in other ways.
A significant chapter of that story was written with a Kalwall Translucent Wall System. In consultation with Islamic architecture specialist Gulzar Haider Design Group of Ottawa, Ontario, Edmonton-based Barr Ryder began with a concept that was more Middle Eastern marketplace, less medieval mosque, then reimagined it for the 21st century. Like a protective veil surrounding that market, a custom wall and an immense skylight, both translucent and by Kalwall, combine to create an interior courtyard and fill it with controlled, natural daylight. The resulting atrium works itself seamlessly into an adjoining prayer area.
Kalwall offers a number of well-known daylighting and energy-saving advantages, but this project vividly demonstrates yet another: design flexibility. To the atrium of Kalwall panels using more typical white face sheets, Barr Ryder added blue to form a pattern that spells out "In the name of God" in huge Arabic characters, reflecting the structure's deeply religious nature.
At the same time, the academy faces very earthly challenges familiar to schools everywhere (and especially in extreme climate regions), such as keeping energy efficiency high and utility costs low. Kalwall achieves both. During the manufacturing process, standard 2-3/4" (70 mm) Kalwall sandwich panels can be infilled with various densities of specialized, translucent insulation. Architects and designers can achieve a thermal insulation value of up to R-20 (U = 0.05 btu/hr/ft²/°F, or 0.3 W/m²K) and still cover expansive areas with translucent cladding or roofing.
Daylighting with Kalwall offers the added bonus of eliminating hot spots and glare, common to areas incorporating glass, from blackboards and computer screens. Daylighted schools also enjoy the well-documented improvement in the health, attitude and test scores of students; teachers and other school employees benefit as well.
The 134,550-square-foot (12,500-square-meter) Edmonton Islamic Academy was built for the future: in time, as many as 1,000 students may study there and the present kindergarten-through-ninth grade format will soon expand to include high school. Using an innovative design that includes translucent Kalwall Walls and Skylights, Barr Ryder has enriched the city of Edmonton's schoolscape with, as academy trustee Khalid Tarrabain puts it, "a building that architecturally provides a bridge between Canadian and Muslim culture."
Edmonton Islamic Academy
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Architect: Barr Ryder Architects & Interior Designers and Gulzar Haider Design Group
Kalwall Specifications
Skylight: 3,000 square feet (278 square meters)
Wall: 13,600 square feet (1,263 square meters)
U-Value: .23 btu/hr/ft²/°F (1.31 W/m²K) – Thermally broken
Light Transmission: 15%
Solar Heat Gain Coefficient: 0.15 wall, 0.16 skylight
Other: Custom Blue colored insulation inserts added
For more information, contact:
Bruce Keller
Kalwall Corporation 603-627-3861 (800-258-9777 N. America)
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