The
Truth about Architectural Walls:
I’ve
talked about architectural walls before; compared them to conventional
construction, and provided insight to their fiscal depreciation benefits. However, in this series we want to challenge
our readers, more than just provide them with industry specific details; we
want to provide useful information that applies to whatever industry you work
in.
Will you ever buy architectural
walls? Maybe your business is such that
you’re never going to be in a position of need to construct new office space,
so the idea of architectural walls doesn’t quite relate?
To make
sense I’m going to bring this home and talk a little about myself, please bear
with me. I’m a boxer; boxed
competitively and hold the Golden Gloves championship as well as the
Middleweight Belt for BC. I love my
cars; it feels good to have that much engineering in the palm of your
hands. As well, I try to be active
within the community; I’m a member and proud supporter of different groups and
societies. How does any of this
matter? All of the different experiences
that I have, and have gone through and go through on a regular basis, make me a
better-rounded individual. Things I’ve learned
in boxing – about reading the competition, waiting to strike, discipline – have
all been extremely beneficial to my career in office furniture. Same is said for every other aspect of my
life; they complement one another.
I made
the case about my own life, because even though you may never be in a position
to buy architectural walls, there are aspects of the industry that may augment
your other initiatives or practices.
This is that ‘Aha’ moment for me, when I’ve hopefully communicated to
you that this message is far from a sales-pitch.
Manufacturers
and dealers alike will stretch the truth when they’re trying to sell you
something. When the pressure of business
mounts and a deal needs to be closed, I’ve seen the sweat beads on foreheads
and the battle between doing what’s right and what might seal-the-deal. These little-white-lies have been floating
around the industry, and depending on whom you’re speaking with, are declared
as true by the unsuspecting, or uninformed.
Direction
of Industry:
First, let’s talk about the direction the industry is going. Architectural Walls are capturing a large
chunk of the market-share from conventional construction. The amount of projects in the last four years
have grown exponentially, cutting into the norm of conventional construction,
and challenging the way we view our options and plan our spaces.
Misinformation:
This growth of walls has eluded to many statements and idioms floating about
architectural walls. I’ve heard cost
brought up quite often; or that reconfigurable walls didn’t make sense to most
organisations; or how the ability to dampen sound is worse, rather
than when conventional construction is used; all of these are concepts of misinformation that I will speak to below.
The
Bottom Line:
Truth is, we’re all in business to succeed, so whether we’re number-crunchers
or savvy-minded-businesspeople, the bottom line matters. Because of the strength of cost in any
acquisition, this has been a tool used by benefitting parties to discredit
architectural walls. However, let’s
start to examine how this misconception has come to be:
1.
Glass – the largest contributing factor has been the argument that drywall (or
conventional construction) is cheaper than architectural walls. However, every time this argument is used, it
is against a standard drywall application versus either clerestory or
monolithic glass options. To put that
into perspective, imagine being told to stay away from tablet’s because your
smartphone is capable enough – that’s not an apples-to-apples comparison:
a. If glass is being used, it has to be compared to conventional alternatives
to glass-walls, either demountable walls or a framed glass application; when
you use similar options, the hard-costs – glass – end up being the same or
similar, so the price gap has been extremely reduced.
b. When just a bare surface wall is being specified for an application, this
changes the most significant factor in the price; glass. Owners, general contractors, architects and
designers alike, need to be concise when asking for specifications. If they know that price is an issue, they
should compare apples-to-apples, rather than test the waters and ask for a
glass-walls quote to versus a typical drywall application. The industry would flood if people understood
there was a cost-competitive alternative, and that architectural walls doesn’t
always mean glass walls.
2. Soft
Costs – they're called soft costs, but their definitely not soft! The methodology of architectural walls and
conventional construction are just different.
The walls business is at heart a furniture baby, it wants to go through
the standard acquisition process and be handled just once. Conventional construction, on the other hand,
ties into a bill of materials, where the hard-costs are calculated through
materials, and labour is encapsulated throughout the breadth of the
project.
The methodology of conventional
construction calls for the studs and the drywall, yes, but also the spackled
and sanded surfaces; the hardwiring of electrics; the surface or paint coating;
the additional materials and labour force the cost to be what it is, which is
higher than just a materials cost-comparison.
3. Poor
Sales Education – whether it’s through us dealers or through competitive
parties on the side of conventional construction, a poor and biased opinion is
often close at hand. If someone is
unable to break out the true costs, and stake their hat at them, be
cautious. The same is true when buying a
used car, stay away from the shady dealers that paint every car on their lot to
be a dreamboat, and bring a mechanic.
Employee
Churn:
Whenever people are asking why to use architectural walls, I start to list
reason upon reason. However quite often, an
argument that is raised, is why do we need the configurability anyways? I have to take it right back home and ask,
why do we need to recycle, anyways? I
mean essentially, whether you throw it in the garbage or throw it in the blue
bin; you’re doing your responsibility and removing it from your possession,
right? That’s the ideology behind the
question. Even if you don’t have employee
churn or never reconfigure the walls, the sustainability impact is quite the
same as comparing it to throwing out a pop-can or recycling it. The excuse is used to help conceal the
daunting ‘how much is it going to cost?’ question, which is only daunting if
you’re not willing to do the math.
Sound
Transmission:
Simple math is, the STC rating of standard drywall is 38-40 (without
insulation). The standard STC rating of
(I’m going to pick the Teknion Altos system, so I do not generalise walls;
there are inferior products out there) is 40 (without insulation). With insulation, drywall typically will jump
up to 43-44, and Altos utilises a standard sound-deafening insulation that will
jump its rating up to 48.
Even
with a high STC rating, any penetration, air-gap, or "flanking" path
can seriously degrade the isolation quality of a wall. Flanking paths are the
means for sound to transfer from one space to another other than through the
wall. Sound can flank over, under, or around a wall. Sound can also travel through
common ductwork, plumbing or corridors. Noise will travel between spaces at the
weakest points. There is no reason to spend money or effort to improve the
walls until all the weak points are controlled. *
With
the average commercial space using T-bar ceilings, whenever architectural walls
are brought up, people are looking to cut corners. The questions are quickly asked, can we
pressure fit between T-bar? Yes we can,
but that’s the same as framing a wall right up the ceiling with drywall. Once we start to make architectural decisions
based upon cost, we’re pretty much saying that we can do the architect’s job
better than they. We need to provide an
architect with the vision, and let them work out the details, because
addressing STC is more than just putting a thick wall in-between offices, and
part of their job is knowing that.
The
Impact of Architectural Walls:
We’ve been waiting for you to ask! The
picture of our cover for this article is ‘The Bow’, which is the home to one of
the world’s largest installations of full-height demountable wall products. In
fact, if all of the Teknion Altos demountable walls were assembled in a
straight line, they would extend about 32 km (20 miles). Altos will be used
throughout the 58 floors to define individual offices, collaborative workspaces
and meeting areas.
Once
The Bow is open for business in Calgary, Alberta, the flexibility and
reconfigurability of the Altos wall will quickly become apparent. Not only can
Altos be easily moved, but the wall fascias themselves can be easily switched
out to meet changing functional or aesthetic requirements. For example, the
walls’ glass fascias can be switched to wood with no disruption to the space.
The inherent flexibility of Altos is a testament to why demountable walls have
become the fastest growing segment of the contract furniture industry.
“The
scope of The Bow project is unprecedented,” says Frank Delfino, President of
Worldwide Markets, Teknion.
The
true impact of architectural walls can be seen in case-study over
case-study. We’re increasing the
market-share, and we’re going to aggressively encroach on conventional
construction through means of education and strategic implementation.
For more information Contact:
TOTAL OFFICE
Planning Services - Professional Delivery & Installation
420 Banks Road Kelowna, B.C. V1X 6A3
Tel:250.717.1626 / Cell:250.869.5304
Toll Free:1.800.558.DESK (3375)
E:
info@TotalOfficeBC.ca
W:
http://www.totalofficebc.ca/
