Cosentino Flagship Project

DKTN defies extreme weather in Chicago

Stone Systems Chicago

Numero immagine 32 della sezione corrente di Chicago 444 di Cosentino Italia

Location

Chicago, United States

Materiale

DKTN

Colors

Aura 15 Bookmatch

Quantity

235 m2

Installator

Stone Systems Chicago

Application

Ventilated façade

End Date

2019

Spessore

12 mm

A design point transforming an entire building

Right in the heart of Chicago, barely a ten-minute walk from City Hall, is 444 N Orleans, a recently refurbished building with a privileged location.

The particularly striking 444 N Orleans is distinctive thanks to an impressive corner fully clad in DKTN, in large-format slabs with an innovative and daring design, in contrast with the classic brick which can be seen across most of the city.

Numero immagine 33 della sezione corrente di Chicago 444 di Cosentino Italia
Numero immagine 34 della sezione corrente di Chicago 444 di Cosentino Italia

DKTN resists even the most extreme conditions

All architects and designers have to grapple with a major setback to all construction work carried out in Chicago: the unbelievable variations in temperatures that affect the city all year round. In summer, this enormous city, with its almost ten million inhabitants in its metropolitan area, sees temperatures of around 30 degrees Celsius. With the arrival of winter, however, and the Arctic winds coming straight in from Canada, the city turns into a gigantic icebox at -29 degrees.

The snow and the humidity push the materials on external surfaces which are constantly exposed, particularly façades, to the limit. There are few materials that can resist it without losing their properties, including their colour. It was in this context that the architects of 444 N Orleans came across DKTN, Cosentino’s ultra-compact surface able to withstand major thermal variations, highly humid environments and high UV insolation.

One continuous large-format streak

To provide a cover for the corner of 444 N Orleans, an elegant colour was sought that would directly bring to mind the city’s natural surroundings, on the shores of vast Lake Michigan, which is usually frozen over in winter. With its white tones and greyish veining, Aura 15 is evocative of the whimsical patterns and images which form on the lake during the harshness of winter.

The large-scale effect has been enhanced through the possibility of providing a continuous vein across the façade pattern. This is a challenging aesthetic aspect to achieve, but one which has tremendous impact.

This being a façade, the project leaders also sought out a material that would be well-resistant to staining and, in particular, to graffiti - a universal urban challenge. DKTN met this requirement.

Numero immagine 35 della sezione corrente di Chicago 444 di Cosentino Italia
Numero immagine 36 della sezione corrente di Chicago 444 di Cosentino Italia

A ventilated façade that was secure and quick to install

To install this façade, Stone System, a company with perfect knowledge of Cosentino’s materials, as well as knowledge of how to put them to optimal use, was called upon. In order to achieve 444 N Orleans, it was decided that a ventilated façade would be used because, among other reasons, of the properties it offers to the building in terms of thermal and acoustic insulation.

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DKTN has a high resistance to humidity and temperature variations
Numero immagine 37 della sezione corrente di Chicago 444 di Cosentino Italia

Cosentino’s materials used in this project

aura_dekton-1

Aura 15

DKTN
Numero immagine 53 della sezione corrente di Chicago 444 di Cosentino Italia

Do you want to know the possibilities of DKTN in facades?

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