Nepean Building & Infrastructure recently supplied a custom perforated metal architectural façade for installation at a cogeneration plant in Melbourne.
Specifically designed for the PEP building, the Victorian NB&I team and architects PHTR collaborated over several months to reproduce the unique Rorschach ink blot design using custom made perforated metal panels.
The Mastermesh team and the project architects spent several months prior to the manufacturing process discussing how the chosen design would be best interpreted using the medium of perforated metal. Several samples were created to achieve the desired result. The project management, including the actual panel installation phase was also built into the overall design, production and supply plan to ensure the scheme was delivered on time.
Nepean brought Rorschach to life in perforated metal by re-creating the abstract design using 2mm and 4mm aluminium panels. Two types of perforation were used to create the background effect for the Rorschach pattern and also the second façade. Panels totalling an area of 1,373m² were used with all panels powder coated to protect the aluminium and provide a high quality, uniform finish.
NB&I’s extensive knowledge in perforating design and project management helped deliver an outcome that perfectly met the original design brief.
The abstract design has two incarnations: one during the daytime (with the Rorschach and the readymades), and another one at night, when the lighting transforms the façade into a big circuit diagram.
The cogeneration plant, called the PEP building aims to provoke discussion about the environment, society’s power consumption and man’s future in a warming world in a fun way, without preaching. The big power-points, the big switch, the ‘circuit diagram’ lighting display and the giant ‘cogeneration diagram’ on the north elevation are all intended to encourage further investigation.
The frieze utilises engineers’ notations for the machinery inside and aims to educate children and adults about the production of energy. The moving dot matrix on the front canopy displays information about power production, consumption and greenhouse gas savings from the building.
The PEP project was submitted for the Australian Architecture Awards in February 2013 with an outcome expected later in the year.
