A Hydro brand, Technal manufactures aluminum enclosures and now presents TENTAL, a new system with a wide range of options for large glass surfaces impacting minimally on the environment. Four new patents optimize materials, simplify fabrication, and expedite dry installation, dispensing with glues, sealants, and packaging, and thus minimizing waste.

To offer solutions allowing creative freedom in designing curtain walls, a unique platform with aluminum profiles 50 mm and 60 mm wide makes it posible to develop stick facades with huge glass panels, maximizing transparency and minimizing the visual impact of the profiles. Each hole can take panels weighing as much as 850 kg and thus measuring as much as 12 square meters, depending on the kind of glass used.

The aesthetic solutions possible are wide-ranging, from the traditional grid appearance with overlapping mullions and transoms to structural glazing with horizontal or vertical trame, and on to the flat cap in a variety of designs, which gives the profiles and glazings a smooth look. TENTAL also admits profile-free structural glazing to make facades totally flat and totally transparent (structural sealant glazing). There is also the arrangement where glazing beads are riveted to the fixed frame by aluminum pieces forming a grid (beaded structural glazing), and the option of building inclined glass roofs (sloped glazing). All the profiles can be personalized through textures and colors, as with TECHNAL’s metallic tones and a broad gamut of lacquered and anodized effects and even an imitation of wood. In fact, structural profiles made of timber can be used in the inner sides of the facades.

TENTAL, flat cap

TENTAL, horizontal trame

TENTAL, vertical trame

TENTAL, tapered glazing

TENTAL, structural glazing

TENTAL, tradicional

The modules admit double and triple glazing up to a maximum thickness of 62 mm, and boast major thermal and acoustic properties in addition to being highly impermeable (up to 1500 Pa). The facade, in turn, has built-in solar protection systems that, in combination with reduced thermal transmittance, simplify the architect’s work of designing energy-efficient constructions. The energy consumed in the preparation for and execution of the aluminum facade is significantly lower than usual, given that the profiles are made with HYDRO CIRCAL 75R, the first material made with a minimum of 75% recycled post-consumer aluminum scrap.

The greenhouse gas emissions attributable to the manufacture of TENTAL are among the lowest that the building industry can offer for an aluminum facade. This contributes in the construction of sustainable buildings that can qualify for the most prestigious environmental certifications such as LEED, BREEAM, WELL, VERDE, or LEVEL(s). Its emissions are only 2.3 Kg of Co2 per Kg of aluminum, compared to a world average of 18 Kg of Co2 per Kg of aluminum, data that is certified by independent bodies and is available to professionals who require them through the EPD (Environment Product Declaration).