Perforated Metal Used in the Valley Health Center

Valley Health Center used perforated metal sunshades from Accurate.

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Valley Health Center

To exceed expectations, a perforating company must have more than a large facility, advanced machinery, and experienced employees. It needs a determined and creative team who can deliver a complete array of custom products that give designers, architects, and builders aesthetic and functional solutions they might not have thought possible. That's Accurate Perforating and that's why Architectural Glass and Aluminum (AGA), a leading provider of window wall and curtain wall installations in the Western United States, called on Accurate when two California health centers needed nine levels of custom, perforated sunshades.

The 59,000-square-foot Valley Health Center in Gilroy, California and the 45,000-square-foot facility in Sunnyvale, California, were designed by international healthcare architects Anshen + Allen to be the ideal settings for medical service providers. The facilities would blend a highly functional interior that provides a welcoming, comfortable space for patients and occupants with richly aesthetic exteriors. The exteriors came to life through glass and aluminum fascias that feature unique semi-circular main entrances and an intricate aluminum structure that holds custom-designed sunshades.

Responsible for the construction and design elements of the external glass and aluminum structure, AGA searched for a metal perforator that could deliver sunshades that met design standards while reducing interior glare an dheat. They contacted Accurate, who immediately got to work and presented a design pattern of straight perforations across the panels. The pattern worked well with the straight sections of the buildings. However, AGA wanted to see more pattern options for the curved glass atrium on the Sunnyvale Health Center's main entrance.

Accurate's determination and creativity led to the exploration of additional designs that would fit the curvature of the building. Accurate presented a stepped pattern with a jagged edge that walked around the curve, and another pattern that had the perforations fanning out to match the building's curvature. The latter pattern, ultimately selected for the building, required a sophisticated CNC turret press machine to punch the holes individually. This time-consuming process was made even more complicated by the panel's tendency to buckle at the end of the profiling process. Undaunted, Accurate relied on its fabrication expertise to solve this problem. A state-of-the-art laser system was then used for complex finishing. The fanned design perfectly complemented the building exterior and was approved by the designers.

With the design approved, Accurate's work had just begun with new challenges ahead in the panels' complicated mounting and installation process. Customer-supplied construction numbers needed to be stamped on to each panel to identify the proper installation location on the building. Curved panels also required a special mounting bracket to match the unique curvature of the building. Because the panels and the mounting brackets were made of different grade aluminum, Accurate had to incorporate an advanced welding process to guarantee that the sunscreens would hold up under the harshest conditions.

Most importantly, each panel needed to be durable enough to withstand the rigors of years of Northern California's weather and earthquakes. Accurate welded the brackets to the panels and sent 25 mock-ups to undergo environmental testing at the California research lab of Smith Emery. At Smith Emery, the windows, aluminum, and sunshade panels were subjected to a battery of tests. The mounting and structural supports endured the lateral shifting of an 8.0 earthquake, 80 m.p.h. winds and 12 lbs./sq. ft. of water force. The panels and mounts survived unscathed. Production was given the green light and, within two months, the nine levels of panels were completed and installed.

Accurate once again proved its ability to go above and beyond. Accurate meshed unique determination, creativity, collaboration, and passion with leading capabilities to produce structurally durable custom sunshades that not only visually enhanced the building exteriors but also improved occupant happiness and environmental efficiencies. That's why architects, designers, and contractors from across the country depend on Accurate to bring their projects to life.