Research and Development

Enclos Corp is known for providing technically superior exterior wall systems at competitive prices, and in fact this is one of our core commitments to our clients. We achieve this through a progressive ongoing program of research and development. This program has resulted in continuous refinements to our core systems, as well as yielding new system designs with improved performance attributes. The bulk of the current R&D program falls within the following categories.

Thermal Performance

Rising energy costs and the energy performance of the nation’s buildings have become predominant concerns. While the thermal performance of a curtainwall building skin is primarily dictated by the thermal properties of the glass makeup or panel cladding material, Enclos has focused its R&D effort on the performance of the framing system to both determine behavior and identify opportunities for improvement. The result has been thermal enhancements to existing systems as well as the development of premium systems with improved thermal performance.

In addition, our project work includes innovative dual-skin facades and cavity wall systems featuring the state-of-the-art in energy performance. We have in-house mechanical engineering capability and computational fluid dynamic analytical technology to assist in the design of these advanced wall and enclosure systems.

Acoustical Performance

We have recently crossed an important threshold in the evolution of civilization; for the first time in history the majority of earth’s people reside within our urban cities. This is reflected in the increasing density of these urban areas and evidenced by the many residential tower projects which have sprung up in cities around the world. Along with the increasing density has come escalating noise pollution. These factors have combined to produce a growing concern among developers, architects and building occupants regarding the acoustical performance of urban habitats.

In recognition of this, Enclos launched an R&D initiative intended to identify the key variables in the acoustical performance of its facade and curtainwall systems. The program involved testing inter-story as well as outside-to-inside acoustical behavior, and has resulted in refinements to basic systems as well as new premium curtainwall framing systems with superior acoustical performance. For more information see the section in this document titled, A Study of Acoustical Enhancements for Curtainwall Framing Systems.

New System Development

Enclos facade and curtainwall systems are of known and proven performance, having been tried and tested in numerous mockups and hundreds of custom building applications over many years. They have consistently conformed to required specifications for water penetration and air infiltration, as well as other demanding specification requirements.

However, increasing urban density, rising fuel costs, and concerns over rapid climate change are resulting in escalating demands on the performance of the building skin. Anticipating this trend, Enclos has been hard at work developing new facade and curtainwall systems with improved behavior in all key areas of performance. We are confident that we can and will continue to provide technically superior systems at competitive prices.

Testing and Prototyping

Testing is a key component of any R&D program. Testing activities as part of the Enclos program have involved explosive testing on blast-resistant designs, structural testing to hurricane wind loads in excess of 270 mph, acoustical and thermal testing, among others. Most of our custom curtainwall designs for particular building projects require some program of mockup testing, and we have performed dozens of such tests over the years.

Enclos Corp has its own dedicated in-house test facility augmented by several major certified testing facilities across the nation that are used when special capabilities are needed and independent confirmation of performance is a requirement.