Caprice Series® vertical sun blades for maximum spans

Familiar with Louvreclad’s products, Stanton Dahl Architects approached Louvreclad at early design stage to talk through the detailing and specification of the Caprice Series® vertical sun blades.

Caprice Series® 184 vertical sun blades were specified to meet the maximum spans and provide a feature to their design. The design called for the vertical fins to be finished in a selection of twelve different custom powder coat colours and sectioned and housed in structural steel frames with no visible fixings.
Susan Plowman from Stanton Dahl says, "The colour palette used for the Caprice Series® vertical sun blades was selected to suit two different criteria. St Lucy’s School sits within the well-established suburb of Wahroonga within a heritage conservation area on the North Shore of Greater Sydney."

There was a lot of interest from surrounding residents in the development and it was important for the new building to sit comfortably within the streetscape. The aesthetic challenge with this project has always been how to blend the desire to build an uplifting and vibrant building suitable to the character of St Lucy’s School while responding to the established character of the adjacent Knox Junior School, its heritage buildings and the surrounding residential houses and established gardens.  The aim was to have the building look as though it had always been there through the use of form and materials. Stanton Dahl Architects chose the classic Bowral Blue brick and the lighter Chillingham White Austral brick to clad the building to sympathise with the predominance of brick as building material in the area.

The vertical Caprice Series fins to the Billyard Avenue, southern façade, were selected to provide vibrancy and life to the building in contrast to the reserved character of the brick. The blues and greens sympathise with the leafy streetscape and established trees along Billyard avenue. The choice of multiple colours helps to animate the façade. The vertical sun blades to the northern, playground side of the building build on the colours used to the Billyard avenue façade while also introducing the pop of ‘Coral Blossom’ colour bringing warmth and energy to the cooler blue and green hues.

Stanton Dahl Architects are happy with the finished installation. The louvres have achieved the effect of providing a secure enclosure to the verandas, while avoiding an institutional appearance. The vertical sun blades allow for views through to the playground and streetscape while successfully filtering the northern light on the exposed edge of the external circulation path.
The fixing details sit discretely within the surrounding structural frame allowing the louvres to be the focus.

The vertical sun blades are an essential and integral part of the building and help to bring the joy and fun to the new facility for St Lucy’s School.
Louvreclad enjoyed bringing this design concept to life for Stanton Dahl Architects. The team worked tirelessly to ensure the multiple custom colour powder coatings satisfied the design intent while coordinating with Marc Morabito Constructions to ensure efficient installation with no hold ups. The builder and the architect have praised the Louvreclad project team’s communication and coordination throughout which led to the delivery of a highly successful project.

Watch our Project Video