A year ago, NADAAA blogged about our hyperbolic paraboloid ceiling mock-up, which will be featured above the third floor design studio at the new Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design.  Since that time, the client has charged us with an additional mandate:  to reduce projected mechanical energy through the incorporation of radiant mechanical systems throughout the building.  This mandate presented a unique challenge for our feature ceiling:  radiant chilled panels are almost always flat, where our design distinguishes itself through a subtle ruled curvature.

Radiant panels are widely used in Europe, but are less common in North America.  Nevertheless, we corresponded with several vendors, all of whom were enthusiastic about helping us resolve this technical hurdle.  This fall, we provided space and support to enable Twa Panel to replicate our mockup, only this time using a new graphite-core radiant panel product with embedded copper hydronic tubing, provided by SGL Group.  Twa Panel gambled that the graphite panel and tubes would be flexible enough to conform to the gradual curvature, which is smaller in degree (approx. 550″ radius) than it appears when viewed in composite across a surface.  The mock-up proved successful, as the panels twisted with relative ease:

Rendering of the Level 03 Design Studio feature ceiling at the new Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design at the University of Toronto

HyPar Mockup No.2: 2’x8′ radiant graphite-core panels on 1/4″ plywood strapping, over light gauge stud backup framing. NADAAA’s original mockup is seen beyond.

In this image, the radiant graphite panels are mudded and taped against a perimeter of conventional 1/2″ thick gypsum board, ready for a standard paint finish.

This image shows the backside (top) of the mockup, where copper leaders penetrate the backside of the panels for connection to hydronic tube supply/return connections.

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