Technical Portal for Sustainable Architecture
Construction Sites in Progress: The Evolution of Our Live Facades
The quality of a ventilated façade isn't just evident once the work is completed, but in the precision of every single connection. In this section, we share the behind-the-scenes story of our active construction sites: from installing thermal insulation systems to the meticulous assembly of ceramic, stone, or HPL panels. Transparency, seismic safety, and thirty years of technical experience, documented day after day directly in the field.
Malta – [Hard Rock Hotel] – Limestone & VM Stone System
Ferentino (PG) – [Industrial Plant] – VM-Bond Composite Aluminum
Foggia – [Kindergarten] – 120x60 Stoneware & Exposed Hook
Foligno – [Casini Srl Offices] – Laminam Large Slabs & Chemical Retention
Novara – [Luxury Residential] – 20mm Stoneware & Kerf System
Vitorchiano (VT) – [Kindergarten] – Multicolor HPL & Matching Rivets
Perugia – [Primary School] – StoVentec Plaster-Bearing System
Viterbo – [Play Energia Headquarters] – Laminam Large Slabs 300x100
Challenge in the Mediterranean: VM Stone Ventilated Facade for the Hard Rock Hotel in Malta
Corrosion Resistance and Structural Safety in Marine Environments
In Malta, in an iconic location directly overlooking the sea, VM Group is overseeing the construction of the exterior of the new Hard Rock Hotel.
The design challenge is twofold: ensuring a prestigious aesthetic that complements the local stone and ensuring complete resistance to the island's extreme climate, characterized by extremely high salinity and constant gale-force winds.
The VM Stone System: Concealed Technology for Limestone
Limestone was chosen for the cladding, a material that pays homage to Maltese architectural identity but which, given the project's size and exposure, requires extremely high-level engineering:
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VM Stone Attachment System: We implemented our proprietary concealed attachment system with back-slab inserts. This technology allows for optimal load distribution across each individual module, ensuring a clean aesthetic without visible hooks and preserving the continuity of the stone.
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Reinforced Safety: Each panel is pre-reinforced with a safety mesh on the back. This is vital for a ventilated façade exposed to strong pressure and pressure drops caused by wind: the mesh ensures the integrity of the panel even in the event of accidental impacts or cracks, preventing fragments from detaching.
25-Micron Anodic Protection: Stop Corrosion
The true "under-the-skin" innovation lies in the metal substructure. Operating just a few meters from saltwater, galvanic corrosion is the primary enemy.
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25-Micron Black Anodization: The supporting structure is made of aluminum with a certified 25-micron black anodization treatment.
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This protective thickness is well above common standards and is specifically designed for the most aggressive marine environments, ensuring immunity to salt spray and a decades-long lifespan for the metal system, which remains protected and invisible behind the stone.
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Standard VM Insulation: In Malta too, the system integrates our 8 cm rock wool insulation (70 kg/m³), essential for the hotel's energy efficiency and to ensure superior acoustic comfort inside the suites, insulating them from wind and sea noise.
Project: Advanced Packaging for the Food Industry – Ferentino (FR)
Excellence in Composite Aluminum and Structural Engineering
For this project in Ferentino, VM Group designed and installed a high-performance building envelope system, combining contemporary aesthetics and cutting-edge engineering solutions for a leading player in the food industry.
The project stands out for its use of VM-BOND composite aluminum cladding, a material chosen for its extraordinary flatness, lightness, and weather resistance—essential characteristics for ensuring durability and hygiene in high-end industrial settings.
Technical Challenges and Solutions Adopted:
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"Floor-to-Floor" System without Intermediate Brackets: The real engineering challenge was overcome through the use of a stud substructure designed to span entire structural spans. Thanks to the "floor-to-floor" system, we eliminated the need for intermediate brackets on the infill walls, optimizing installation times and ensuring superior mechanical stability, ideal for large buildings.
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Concealed Fixing: To enhance the clean design, a concealed mechanical fixing system was adopted. This solution enhances the geometry of the VM-BOND panels, creating a seamless surface without visual interruptions, reflecting the modern and technological identity of the client company.
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Acoustic Comfort and Glass Facades: In addition to ventilation, the project included the integration of sound-absorbing continuous glass facades. In a noisy industrial setting, indoor well-being was a priority: the installed system guarantees certified noise reduction of up to 50 dB, perfectly insulating the offices from external production noise.
Technical Integration: Non-Flammable Insulation System
Beyond the structural complexity of the floor-to-floor system, the project included a high-performance insulation package, essential to ensuring the energy efficiency and safety of the industrial site:
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High-End Thermal and Acoustic Insulation: A 12 cm thick layer of rock wool was installed. This choice not only optimizes the thermal performance of the building envelope, drastically reducing heating and cooling costs, but also ensures excellent wall breathability.
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Density Greater than 70 kg/m³: The choice of such a high density (70 kg/m³) ensures the dimensional stability of the insulation panel over time, preventing sagging within the ventilated cavity. Furthermore, the rock wool mass significantly contributes to the acoustic insulation of the complex, working in synergy with the 50 dB glass facades.
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Certified Fire Safety: In a critical sector like the food industry, safety is the priority. The use of rock wool (a Class A1 non-combustible material) ensures that the ventilated facade does not contribute to the spread of flames, protecting the structure and personnel.
Final Result:
The integration of the ventilated composite aluminum façade and the large acoustic glass surfaces defines a building that is more than just a production site, but a manifesto of energy efficiency and environmental comfort. This achievement confirms VM Group's leadership in managing complex industrial projects, where pinpoint precision meets the monumental scale of modern architecture.
School Architecture and Safety: Ventilated Stoneware Facade in Foggia
The Building Envelope at the Service of Education: Aesthetics and Performance
For this project in Foggia, VM Group oversaw the engineering and installation of the ventilated façade for a nursery school, a facility where material durability and structural safety are essential requirements.
The cladding was made of 120 x 60 cm porcelain stoneware panels. This material was selected for its exceptional resistance to impact, temperature changes, and weathering, while also ensuring ease of maintenance and a modern, clean aesthetic, ideal for a building intended for children.
Technical Details and Fixing System:
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Exposed Hook System: For this specific project, a mechanical fixing system with exposed hooks was adopted. This solution guarantees maximum stability and quick installation, allowing for an immediate visual check of the tightness of each individual panel. The finish of the hooks was color-coordinated with the stoneware to harmoniously integrate with the façade design.
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Energy Efficiency and Indoor Comfort: Thanks to ventilated façade technology, the building benefits from a natural "chimney effect" that dramatically improves thermal insulation. This translates into healthier, cooler interiors in the summer and warmer in the winter, significantly reducing the school's energy management costs.
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Large Format $120 \times 60$ cm: The use of large-format modules has reduced the number of joints, giving the school's architecture a sense of continuity and solidity, minimizing thermal bridges and enhancing the texture of the selected stoneware.
Technical Integration: The Rock Wool Insulating Core
To ensure the highest standards of safety and comfort for the school's young users, the insulation package was meticulously designed:
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Thermal Insulation and Passive Fire Protection: A 12 cm thick rock wool insulation layer was installed. This choice ensures superior thermal resistance, protecting the building from the summer heat typical of the Apulian plateau and the winter cold. As a Class A1 (non-combustible) material, rock wool ensures maximum passive fire protection, a critical requirement for school buildings.
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Density and Acoustic Performance: The choice of a density of 70 kg/m³ is no coincidence. Such a high mass achieves impressive noise reduction, dampening external ambient noise and ensuring a quiet and protected internal microclimate, ideal for educational activities and children's rest.
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Durability and Breathability: The combination of 12 cm of rock wool and the ventilated façade's air cavity eliminates the risk of interstitial condensation, protecting the wall structure over time and ensuring excellent indoor air quality.
Result and Vision:
The Foggia school represents a shining example of how technical construction can enhance the quality of public spaces. VM Group offers its 30 years of experience to transform a functional requirement into a safe, efficient, and long-lasting architectural work, designed to accommodate future generations.
Invisible Architecture: Large-Scale Laminam Ventilated Facade in Foligno
Innovation and Design: The New Casini Srl Office Headquarters
In Foligno (PG), VM Group is overseeing the construction of the building envelope for the new Casini Srl offices, a project that redefines the canons of industrial aesthetics through the use of cutting-edge ceramic materials.
The undisputed star of the façade is Laminam's large-format porcelain stoneware, featuring impressive 300 x 100 cm slabs. These ultra-thin surfaces (5 mm+ thick) represent the perfect synthesis of lightness and strength, being reinforced on the back with a special fiberglass mesh. This composite structure guarantees superior mechanical resistance, allowing the installation of such large formats with maximum structural safety.
Technical Details and Chemical Fixing System:
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Concealed Fixing System with Chemical Retention: Unlike traditional mechanical systems, a concealed fixing system with chemical retention (structural glue) was adopted for the Casini offices.
This technology eliminates any exposed metal elements, offering a pure, monolithic architectural surface without visual interruptions, enhancing the texture and continuity of the Laminam material. -
Stratigraphy and Insulation: In accordance with VM Group's standards of excellence, the façade incorporates a layer of insulating fiberglass wool. 12 cm thick rock with a density of 70 kg/m³.
This configuration, combined with the ventilation cavity, ensures exceptional thermal performance, essential for operational comfort within offices and for reducing energy costs. -
Large Format Engineering: Installing 3-meter slabs requires specific technical expertise in managing joints and thermal expansion. Our technical team designed a dedicated substructure capable of accommodating the chemical fixing, ensuring absolute flatness across the entire surface of the building.
Result and Vision:
The Casini Srl project in Foligno demonstrates VM Group's ability to manage cutting-edge materials and complex installation systems. The result is an iconic office building, where ventilated façade technology "disappears" to make way for the pure beauty of architectural ceramics, while ensuring long-lasting protection and cutting-edge energy efficiency.
Designer Residences in Novara: Urban Trilogy in Extra-Thick Stoneware
The Excellence of 20 mm Stoneware and the VM-GRES System with Kerf
In Novara, VM Group completed the construction of the envelopes for a prestigious complex of three residential buildings. The architectural goal was to combine the aesthetic impact of natural stone with the unbeatable performance of technical ceramic, while ensuring first-rate structural safety for a luxury residential context.
Technical Details and System Engineering:
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Extra-Thick Porcelain Stoneware (2 cm): The choice of 20 mm-thick slabs is not merely aesthetic. This material offers far superior resistance to impact and mechanical stress (such as wind pressure or temperature changes) compared to standard thicknesses, making the façade extremely durable and stable.
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VM-GRES Concealed Kerf Attachment System: To maintain the purity of the architectural lines, the concealed Kerf system was used. This technique involves a millimetric mechanical incision in the thickness of the slab (the "kerf"), into which the substructure's support brackets are inserted. The result is an extremely secure mechanical attachment that is completely invisible from the outside.
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Energy Efficiency and Comfort: As with every VM Group project, the stoneware is embedded with a 12 cm thick rock wool insulation core (density 70 kg/m³). In the Novara residences, this translates into excellent living comfort, with thermal insulation that reduces operating costs and acoustic insulation that protects the privacy and silence of the residents.
Certified Construction Quality:
Managing three buildings simultaneously required rigorous construction planning and perfect alignment of vertical and horizontal joints. The Novara complex demonstrates how the ventilated façade in thick stoneware is today the definitive solution for luxury residential projects, capable of increasing the value of the property over time thanks to virtually no maintenance.
Colors in Motion: HPL Ventilated Facades for the Vitorchiano Preschool
Playful Design and Certified Performance for School Buildings
In Vitorchiano (VT), VM Group created the envelope for the new preschool, a project where color becomes a functional architectural element. The choice of multicolored HPL allows for a dynamic visual interplay, ideal for an educational environment, without compromising durability and safety.
Technical Details and Exposed Fixing System:
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Multicolor HPL Panels (8 mm): 8 mm high-pressure laminate (HPL) is an extremely dense and robust technical material. It was chosen for its total resistance to atmospheric agents and UV rays (which maintain the colors vivid over time), and its mechanical resilience, essential in a school setting.
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Mechanical Fixing with Electro-Colored Rivets: For this project, a visible fixing system using rivets was adopted. The technical highlight lies in the use of electro-colored rivets in RAL colors, precisely coordinated with each individual multicolor panel. This detail allows the fastening points to visually "disappear" into the panel, ensuring extreme mechanical strength (seismic and wind resistant) with minimal and uncluttered aesthetic impact.
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Insulation and Fire Safety: Behind the explosion of color, the façade conceals VM Group's standard insulation package: 12 cm rock wool (70 kg/m³). As this is a school, the choice of non-combustible insulation (Class A1) is an absolute safety prerequisite, guaranteeing thermal and passive fire protection.
Architecture as an Experience:
The Vitorchiano project demonstrates how the ventilated façade can transform a simple volume into an iconic building. The pinpoint precision in the arrangement of the multicolored panels reflects the attention to detail that VM Group applies to every construction site, ensuring an energy-efficient and visually stimulating building for future generations.
Educational Innovation in Perugia: StoVentec System for the New Primary School
Efficiency and Seamless Design in San Martino in Campo (PG)
In Perugia, VM Group is creating the technological envelope for the new primary school in San Martino in Campo (PG) using the StoVentec system, a ventilated, plaster-supported façade solution that represents excellence in the integration of energy performance and aesthetic freedom.
Technical Details and the StoVentec System:
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Expanded Glass Plaster-Supporting Panels: The system is based on extremely lightweight and stable recycled expanded glass panels, which are fixed to a metal substructure. This material is completely rot-proof and resistant to microorganisms, ideal for ensuring a healthy school environment.
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Seamless, Seamless Finish: Unlike façades made of panels (sandstone or stone), the StoVentec system allows for the application of a reinforced skim coat and a seamless finishing plaster over large surfaces. The result is a building with a monolithic and modern appearance, yet still enjoys all the benefits of natural rear ventilation.
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Seismic and Thermal Safety: The system is certified to withstand high seismic loads, thanks to the flexibility of the aluminum substructure. Behind the panels, the 12 cm rock wool insulation layer (70 kg/m³) ensures optimal thermal comfort for students, drastically reducing the school's energy consumption.
Executive Excellence:
The construction site images document the precision in installing the substructure and StoVentec panels, highlighting VM Group's ability to manage complex systems that require specific expertise in both metalwork and specialized building finishes.
Sustainability and Design: The New Play Energia Headquarters in Viterbo with Laminam Large SlabsThe Architecture of Energy: Ceramic Innovation in Viterbo
For the new Play Energia headquarters in Viterbo, VM Group designed and installed a building envelope that reflects the company's values of innovation and cutting-edge design. The choice fell on Laminam large porcelain stoneware slabs, a material that allows for the cladding of imposing volumes with tailored precision.
Technical Details and Chemical Retention System:
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Laminam Large Slabs (300x100 cm): The use of the extra-large format drastically reduces the number of joints, creating a visually continuous façade that enhances the verticality and cleanliness of the building. The 5+ mm thick slabs are reinforced on the back with a fiberglass mesh that guarantees structural integrity and safety under all conditions.
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Concealed Fixing with Chemical Retention: A chemical fixing system (structural adhesive) was adopted for this project. This technology eliminates the need for exposed mechanical fasteners, allowing the ceramic to express its full purity. The bonding system is engineered to absorb thermal expansion and vibrations, ensuring superior longevity for the entire façade package.
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Energy Performance: As standard on VM Group construction sites, the façade is integrated with a 12 cm rock wool insulation system (density 70 kg/m³). This provides the Play Energia headquarters with excellent thermal insulation, reducing energy requirements for air conditioning and dramatically improving the building's thermal inertia.
Technical Result:
The Play Energia headquarters represents a virtuous example of how a large-format ventilated façade can transform a functional building into an architectural landmark, where the invisible technology of chemical fixing guarantees safety and a truly prestigious aesthetic.
