Kalwall® Corporation
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Metea Valley High School
From the beginning, architects DLR Group designed Metea Valley High School in Aurora, Illinois, to light up education, both literally and figuratively. The sprawling campus with room for 3,000 students is broken down into a handful of more intimate, human-scale learning spaces, called “think t… Read More
From the beginning, architects DLR Group designed Metea Valley High School in Aurora, Illinois, to light up education, both literally and figuratively. The sprawling campus with room for 3,000 students is broken down into a handful of more intimate, human-scale learning spaces, called “think tanks”,… Read More
Two interior courtyards, open to the sky, offer fresh air during free periods. Shaped a bit like a bow tie, Metea combines three concepts – mind, in the midsection, and body and soul on either end – to offer students 21st-century school experience.
Photo credit: James Steinkamp Photography
Lighting up Metea in the literal sense comes largely from the extensive use of Kalwall translucent curtain wall throughout the school.
Photo credit: James Steinkamp Photography
The sprawling campus with room for 3,000 students is broken down into a handful of more intimate, human-scale learning spaces, called “think tanks”. Lighting up Metea comes largely from the extensive use of Kalwall® translucent curtain wall.
Photo credit: James Steinkamp Photography
Illinois can get very cold in the winter and quite toasty in the summer. Highly insulating Kalwall helps there, too, keeping temperature extremes outside and lessening the need for and cost of heating and cooling.
Photo credit: James Steinkamp Photography
At Metea Valley High School, DLR Group chose to include Verti-kal™, a unique design variation on the standard shoji or square grid layouts of Kalwall Translucent Systems.
Photo credit: James Steinkamp Photography
Any school system must concern itself with maintenance costs, and Kalwall products excel there as well. The panels are vandal-resistant and self-cleaning; dirt simply washes off with each rainfall.
Photo credit: James Steinkamp Photography
In a dramatic demonstration of Kalwall’s superb flexibility, the design includes occasional, narrow, horizontal runs of clear glass – some serving as clerestories – adding visual interest as well as clear views to the outside.
Photo credit: James Steinkamp Photography
With all Kalwall translucent systems, Verti-kal distributes diffused daylight throughout the school, even on cloudy days, drastically reducing the amount of artificial lighting required and eliminating shadows and glare as well as stark contrasts of light and shade.
Photo credit: James Steinkamp … Read More
Kalwall's unique format creates an entirely different look while still utilizing the most highly insulating, diffuse-light-transmitting, structural composite technology.
Photo credit: James Steinkamp Photography
The sprawling campus with room for 3,000 students is broken down into a handful of more intimate, human-scale learning spaces, called “think tanks”. Lighting up Metea comes largely from the extensive use of Kalwall® translucent curtain wall.
Photo credit: James Steinkamp Photography
Upon coming through the school’s main entrance, visitors are struck by the cheerful, airy, daylighted lobby.
Photo credit: James Steinkamp Photography