All around the world you can see beautiful buildings with facades featuring aluminium panels. They are a very popular choice because the panelling is great to look at, available in an array of colours and finishes, and offers excellent performance. As one of the leading architects London has, we have a lot of experience with these materials. In fact they feature on one of our most recent high profile projects.

A great history

Surprisingly aluminium has been a viable cladding material for over a century. This is much longer than many people think. However, if you take a look at San Gioacchino’s Church in Rome you will notice it has a beautiful dome on the roof. It is aluminium cladding. Impressively, it has been there since 1897 and looks just as stunning today as it will have when it was brand new.

While the beautiful church was one of the earliest projects to use the cladding, it took many years for it to take off. In fact, it did not become a choice for a rainscreen to protect the substrate until the mid 20th century. One of the most interesting examples here is the Alcoa Building in the US.

Today

Now aluminium cladding is the go to material for cladding, whether it is as a rainscreen or an extra decorative element. One of the reasons it is so popular is that it is incredibly versatile. The panels can be all kinds of shapes, sizes, colours, finishes, and more. Perforated panelling in particular is one of the top choices right now. Designers can be really creative with the materials and create facades and roofs that are unique and eye-catching.

The aesthetics are not the only advantage here though. In addition the aluminium is light and strong. It does not add a great deal of weight to the structure. That means there is no need to enhance the load bearing capacity of the foundations or structural elements like a frame or walls. The strength and durability means the materials will last a very long time, making them a very sustainable choice.

The future

It certainly looks like people will continue using aluminium cladding in the future. In fact it could grow in popularity even more because of how it can make properties more sustainable. People can also use it to quickly dress up an old building. As more properties age, you could see them choosing new facades of aluminium.

Talk to top architects in London today

Coffey Architects is a team that knows how much value attractive cladding can add to a building. It is a part of the design that we love looking at and working with our clients to get right. You can see it on some of our projects by browsing our main website.

So, if you are thinking about a project and want to work with some of the top architects London has, speak to us. We will give you all the help we can to get the details perfect for you.