KGC Group is a facades contractor for the Artery project in Lithuania. The building is designed by one of the most famous architects in the world – Daniel Libeskind (Studio Libeskind). This project is a new face of Vilnius city and it is the future of the city and its architecture. As the architect says, the idea of this building is to create a 21st-century symbol of the city.
“Artery” rises to 20 floors and has a 35-meter-high atrium which is open to the public 24/7. Panoramic windows allow tenants to enjoy natural light and a 360-degree view of the city. The A+ building was designed to meet the “BREEAM New Construction – Excellent” certificate.
KGC Group is responsible for the design, production, project management, transportation and installation of 15 459 m2 unitised structural glazing curtain walls with shadow box zones, 1 190 m2 of stick curtain walls and 1 770 m2 of glass roof. Some of the biggest corner „mirrors“ weigh around 2 tonnes and are 7 meters high. The installation process, especially on the 1st floor, is very challenging due to the size and weight of the elements as well as the tilt angle in some places.
0% – the exact number of visible aluminum on the outside of the façade. The entire façade is made of glass with 20 mm silicone gaskets. Even the specially designed openable panels does not have any visible aluminum details, which is a truly unique achievement. So far, this has not been seen in any catalog systems. The inside of the outer glass of the double-glazed units is covered with a Diamomnd66 coating, which provides a tasteful and non-compressed reflection effect, which allows to achievement the essential goal of this building – maximum architectural integrity.
“Artery” is the 1st project with KGC‘s unique bespoke unitised façade system, therefore it will go into our history books not only as the largest project to date in Lithuania but also with its unique design solutions. The system used in the facades is unique and has not been used anywhere else. It is a product created by our engineers individually for this project to meet and implement all customer requirements and expectations. KGC Switzerland’s design team has been actively involved in this system’s development, testing, production and quality assurance processes, with their extensive and exceptional experience in designing and working with the world’s most renowned architects and projects, such as Burj Khalifa, Burj Al Arab, Al Bahar Towers in Dubai, The Gherkin in London and many others.
The façade system was tested for water and air permeability at an IFT Rosenheim-accredited center in Germany. It exceeded all the requirements for the facades. According to the requirements of EN12155 / EN12154, the precipitation permeability of façade aluminum profile systems must comply with the “RE” class at a maximum wind pressure of 900 Pa. The Artery project successfully withstood a pressure of as much as 1200 Pa during the façade design test. According to the prevailing procedure, the testing was stopped when the set values were reached, but the façade did not show any signs of permeability, which allows to make assured assumptions that the façade system could withstand 1500Pa or even more.
