February 10, 2025
Vaisala, based in Finland, a global leader in weather, environmental and industrial measurements, began a visionary project to set up an advanced American head office in Louisville, Colorado, with its non-reversing dedication to sustainability. S-5!, A world leader in solar attachments for metal roofs, helped them to achieve their goals.
The project included the construction of a new building seamlessly integrated with the existing, promoting a liquid indoor-outdoor campus that is designed to serve customers, employees, researchers and partners.
Inspired by the slender, minimalist design ethos of their Scandinavian headquarters, the new structure embodies modernity and priority to the eco-consciousness. The project mainly reaches Net-Zero Energy through a merger of sustainable design characteristics. Among these are a state-of-the-art, 492 panel solar panel on the roof, a very efficient VRF-mechanical system (HVAC) and a striking, vertical, double skin wall face, all carefully orchestrated to minimize energy consumption.
The building contains an existing 101 kW tilted solar array on the TPO roof of the lower southern building, the S-5-U Mini/Unirac-Rail-based solar strip system on the upper standing metal roof and a vertical façade wall-mounted array Protected in place using the S-5! PVKIT Rail-Less solution for solar mounting. Together, the metal roof produce solar systems 228 kW.
The owner wished a tight-looking, low-profile system that would supplement the appearance of the roof and the high-end, architecturally designed building. The most important challenge was to offer an aesthetically pleasant, vertically mounted solar PV array on the existing standing seam wall, including engineering report on the solution. A conventional, heavily mounted on the track was considered unsuitable for the façade wall.
The facade mounted Array not only had to look impressive, because it would be very visible to those who arrived at the Vaisala building, but it also had to be resistant to enormous wind loads. This area of Colorado experiences around 145 mph wind speeds and exposure to category C, so Vaisala needed a system that is resistant to extreme wind conditions.
The Vaisala project also won a Solar Builder Editors’ Choice Award
“When we started the facade mounted part of this project, we went through our options and knowing aesthetics were a top priority for the customer, the PVKIT solution was a natural choice,” said Briana Morris, commercial chief engineer at Namaste Solar. “We still had to baptize our toes in the commercial side of the commercial side, because we were worried about wire management for the field. With a little in advance planning, before the modules placed, it turned out to be a non-issue. Our crews loved to install this system and said they would be completely happy to install more projects, just like this one. ”
The customer sought the most aesthetic, lightweight and windproof solution to mount his solar panels vertically on a standing seam façade wall, without jeopardizing the integrity of the profile. The sunburns provided a low-profile, slim solution to attach the solar panel to the façade wall and enabled the owner to reach a design designed to resist the high wind in the region. By attaching the PV directly to the seams, the installation efficiency and flexibility offered the load more uniformly into the structure.
The clamps perform a secondary function as wind clamps, often referred to as “external seam clamps” (ESC). These wind clamps increase the resistance resistance resistance of the roof, which prevents multiple failures.
“In view of the fact that the unusual forces are exercised on a vertical series, having clamps with two fixed screws certainly has the concern about illuminating clamps that run under load,” said Ash Bowersock, Namaste Solar Commercial Technical Designer. “The low-profile of the S-5! PVKIT really helped to load the wind and of course aesthetics. ”
Over time, the solar system will compensate for 69% of the electrical consumption of the building. The project has reached an impressive energy intensity (EUI) of 28, which demonstrates exceptional energy performance. This performance not only exceeds standard energy codes, but also positions the head office as one of the most important sustainable office buildings in Colorado.
Project team
- Architect: OZ -Architecture
- Structural engineer: Brett Robinson from JVA Consulting Engineers
- Solar designer and installation program: Namaste Solar; Namastesolar.com
- Modules manufacturer: Hanwha Qcell
- Inverter manufacturer: CPS
- Roofer: B&M Roofing
- Roof and façade wall profile: Berridge Zee-Lock 24-Gauge standing seam metal
- Sunburns: S-5! PVKIT® In black, S-5-U clamp and S-5-U mini-clamp
About S-5!
Founded by an experienced metal Dakexpert, S-5! is the leading authority in the field of metal roof attachment solutions since 1992. S-5! The zero penetration clamps and lifelong brackets attach almost everything to most metal roof types, while retaining roof integrity and guarantees. Made in the US, S-5! Solutions are designed for a variety of applications mounted on roof and are now installed on more than 2.5 million metal roofs, including more than 7.3 gigawatts of solar energy worldwide, which has never seen strength and a long service life before. For more information, visit www.s-5.com.
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