SANRAL - the South African National Roads Agency Limited -

Sunscreen façade with a customized architectural mesh

Sunscreen façade with a customized architectural mesh for the office building of the South African National Roads Agency Limited (SANRAL) in Bellville, South Africa.

SANRAL - the South African National Roads Agency Limited - is responsible for the management, maintenance and development of the South African road network. Their newest office building is located in Bellville, a borough of Cape Town. With an average of 300 days of sunshine a year, the region around Cape Town is one the sunniest regions in the world. Therefore, it is no surprise that the sun protection was an important issue for SANRAL´s new office building.

The new office building near Cape Town, should receive a functional and at the same time decorative exterior façade cladding. MAC Architects decided on a partial mesh façade with HAVER Architectural Mesh. In addition to its aesthetic appeal, the mesh façade should also act as an effective sun protection for the offices behind it.

HAVER & BOECKER, together with the architectural firm, developed the new wire mesh EGLA-DUO 4222. This mesh type is made from round and flat wires and provides an extensive brilliance. With an open area of 46 % it provides on the one hand effective shading and on the other hand it ensures a good view from inside to outside.

The SANRAL office building gets its distinctive character due to the individual form of the façade cladding, which consists of 1585 m² HAVER Architectural Mesh. Due to the special geometry of the façade areas the 66 mesh elements were supplied ready-to-install with partially curved sides and accordingly adapted edgings.