March 19, 2007—Alcoa has announced that a wide range of the company’s Kawneer architectural aluminum products and systems were used in the construction of a new “green” headquarters building designed for Heifer International, a non profit organization based in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Heifer International provides livestock and plants as well as training in sustainable agriculture for disadvantaged families worldwide. The organization needed a larger headquarters, but wanted the project to remain true to the earth’s resources. Heifer identified a long-abandoned railroad yard in Little Rock ‘s old warehouse district, an environmentally dirty site, known as a brownfield, and made the decision to transform it – the “green” way.
The project showcases a range of Kawneer products, which is part of Alcoa’s global Building and Construction Systems (BCS) business unit headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland.
The curved shape of the building served to take advantage of the solar orientation by stretching in an east/west direction and maximizing sun exposure. To block excessive sunlight, the team integrated sunshades into the exterior, while Kawneer’s InLighten (light shelves) were installed on the interior of the wall to “bounce” natural light up to the ceiling and reflect it into the building.
Other Kawneer products include Trifab Framing System, 350 Medium Stile Entrances, 1010 Sliding Mall Fronts and 990 Sliding Doors.
For more information, see the Web site.
