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VMZinc Welcomes Architects To New “Lounge” at the 2012 AIA Convention

Categories: Umicore Building Products, VMZINC
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The redesigned booth provides a place to rest and relax.

May 7, 2012 (Washington, DC) – VMZINC®, the brand name of the architectural zinc manufactured by Umicore Building Products USA (UBP), will welcome architects to its new booth-turned-lounge this year during the American Institute of Architects’ (AIA) 2012 National Convention & Design Exposition.

The convention and expo will be held May 17-19 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C.

VMZINC has redesigned its former Booth #329 to feel more like a lounge, “where architects and other convention attendees can come to relax, refuel, and talk about zinc with our territory managers,” said Chandra Hester, marketing assistant for UBP.

Underscoring the focus on architecture, VMZINC will present interviews with select architects on large LCD TVs in the booth, along with a slideshow of projects that feature VMZINC applications.

The booth will also feature a new VMZINC Composite Material mock-up, produced by NOW Specialties, Inc., of Texas, whose sales team will be on hand to answer any questions.

And on Friday, May 18, VMZINC will host a happy hour at the Convention Center in Room 158 B from 4-7 p.m.

The theme for this year’s AIA National Convention & Expo is Design Connects.

” ‘Design Connects’ celebrates the uniqueness of design as the synthesis of theory and practice, the relationship of the built and natural environments, and the aspiration of architecture to serve the broader goals of humanity,” said James H. Determan, AIA, chair of the National Convention Advisory Committee.

Among the many points the VMZINC representatives will make in their booth during the convention is architectural zinc’s connection to environmental stewardship, a key issue among today’s architects.

“Zinc is a very natural and significant mineral that is prevalent throughout the world,” notes Dan Nicely, Associate AIA and VMZINC’s director of market development. “It takes very little energy to manufacture zinc, the life span of zinc cladding is 80 to 100 years, it is virtually maintenance free, and it is completely recyclable, from construction scrap to the end of its useful life.”

Nicely said he hopes architects attending the convention will visit Booth 329 often, not only to learn about architectural zinc and its applications but also to relax and regroup before moving on to other events in the Convention Center.

For more information on the 2012 AIA Convention & Expo, go to www.aia.org and click on “Conferences & Events.”

For more information on VMZINC, visit www.vmzinc-us.com.

About VMZINC / Umicore Building Products USA:

Umicore is a world-leading producer of VMZINC® architectural zinc. For over 160 years, Umicore has been providing innovative solutions for building owners, architects and contractors. Umicore has offices and representatives all over the world. In the United States, Umicore Building Products USA, Inc., is based in Raleigh, NC. For additional information, visit www.vmzinc-us.com and the Facebook pages “VMZINC,” “VMZINCresidential,” and “VMZINC for Architecture.”

“Focus On Zinc” Spotlights Residential Applications Around The Globe

Categories: Umicore Building Products, VMZINC
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The 12^th edition of VMZinc’s international magazine is now available.

April 17, 2012 (Raleigh, NC) – VMZINC® has published the twelfth edition of “Focus On Zinc,” its international architecture magazine that showcases examples of zinc wall and roof applications around the globe, including modern, innovative private homes in the United States, Australia, Belgium, Poland, and Denmark.

VMZINC is the brand name for the architectural zinc manufactured by Umicore BuildingProducts USA.

“A brief journey through the pages of this issue of ‘Focus on Zinc’ confirms a trend that has been established over a number of years,” notes Senior Vice President Pierre Van de Bruaene in the magazine’s introduction: “Applications of our material to the facades of buildings are becoming increasingly predominant.”

Building types featured in this edition range from large cultural arts centers and educational facilities to office buildings, private homes, and even Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum on Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles. The latter, designed by Jag/RoTo Architecture, features exterior walls of VMZ Flatlock panels in red PIGMENTO®.

Zinc-clad home in Cincinnatti, designed by Jose Garcia.

The private home in Cincinnati that’s featured in this edition demonstrates architect Jose Garcia’s style of combining raw materials with experimental installation and modern architectural expression. He specified QUARTZ-ZINC® and ANTHRA-ZINC® in Dri-Design cassettes for the exterior, which define the house’s volumes and provides the homeowner with a surface cladding that requires little to no maintenance.

The design of a private home in Silkeborg, Denmark, was inspired by Japanese Origami and expressed through the use of VMZ standing seam panels in ANTHRA-ZINC for the roof. The façade is composed of black-stained wood strips. This atypical contemporary house was designed by architects 3xN & M2.

The most ambitious project in this edition, however, is an office building in France that uses VMZ standing seam and flatlock panels in QUARTZ-ZINC to contribute to architect Cabinet Jourda’s zero-energy-use target. Chosen for its durability and recyclability, VMZINC is a key element of this building sustainability.

“Focus On Zinc” is published in Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Polish, Portuguese and Spanish. To request a copy call VMZINC’s USA headquarters at 919.874.7173 or email a request to: Info@vmzinc-us.com.

About VMZINC / Umicore Building Products USA:

Umicore is a world-leading producer of VMZINC® architectural zinc. For over 160 years UBP has been providing innovative solutions for building owners, architects, and contractors. Umicore has offices and representatives all over the world. In the United States, Umicore Building Products USA, Inc., is based in Raleigh, NC. For additional information, visit www.vmzinc-us.com.

New Video Highlights Zinc and Silver Wall in Dallas Arts District

Categories: VMZINC
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The Annette Strauss Artist Square stage house glistens with metal cladding.

March 15, 2012 (Raleigh, NC) – VMZINC® recently completed a new video on the Annette Strauss Artist Square in the Dallas Arts District. The video spotlights the dramatic zinc and silver paneled wall on the facility’s stage house.

Artist Square is named in honor of the city’s former mayor and arts champion, Annette Strauss.

Designed by Good Fulton & Farrell Architects of Dallas, Texas, Artist Square’s stage house features VMZINC’s four millimeter QUARTZ-ZINC® and Mitsubishi Chemical’s four millimeter silver metallic panels, all cut in the same diamond shape to form a Harlequin pattern.

The camera pans around and through the facility, showing the open-air ambience, then focuses on the glistening metal wall.

Thom Powell, AIA, Director of Sustainable Design at Good Fulton & Farrell notes that his firm wanted to create a facility with the same sense of openness as the original Artist Square, which was just an open space for community gatherings. He also comments on the changing visual nature of the stage house’s walls:

“The zinc panels next to the silver metal give the illusion of glistening leaves.”

VMZINC’s Director of Market Development, Dan Nicely, adds, “The unique thing about Artists Square is that they’re using zinc with another composite material…It’s really a nice play and a nice dichotomy of materials that’s working together to create interest on that wall.”

Since the facility was intended to be environmentally sustainable, Nicely also notes that zinc is a very “green” cladding material since the run-off is non-bioavailable and clear so it won’t affect other materials. It also has a life span of 80 to 100 years.

Sam Latona, Preconstruction Services Manager for the contractor, Turner Construction Company of Dallas, notes that the wall’s rain screen construction guarantees that it “will last the life of the facility without any repair cost.”

The Dallas Arts District includes 13 facilities and organizations, brought together largely through Annette Strauss’ tireless efforts when she served as mayor from 1987-1991. Strauss succumbed to brain cancer shortly after the facility was named in her honor. In its eulogy, the Dallas Morning News stressed her “enduring passion for both the arts and the city.”

VMZINC is the brand name for Umicore Building Products’ architectural zinc. NOW Specialties Inc. served as panel fabricator and installer for metal wall.

The video was created by 214 Media of Dallas with Fred Nolan of NOW Specialties as executive producer. To view the entire video on YouTube, go to http://bit.ly/xgEZo5.

About VMZINC and Umicore Building Products:

VMZINC is a leading specialist in innovative zinc solutions for building envelopes and the international brand name of rolled zinc products manufactured and sold by the Building Products Unit of the Umicore Group, which specializes in materials technology. Umicore is a world-leading producer of architectural zinc. For over 160 years, Umicore has been providing innovative solutions for building owners, architects and contractors. Umicore has offices and representatives all over the world. In the United States, Umicore Building Products USA, Inc., is based in Raleigh, NC. For additional information, visit www.vmzinc-us.com and find the company on Facebook.

VMZINC® Joins Forces with Centria To Introduce New Zinc Panels

Categories: VMZINC
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Industry leader chooses Umicore/VMZinc as a partner for zinc products.

Raleigh, NC, March 13, 2012— CENTRIA, an industry leader in the design, development and manufacture of architectural metal wall and roof systems, recently announced the addition of VMZINC® architectural zinc to use as a material substrate in its Profile Series Concept Series^® and IW Series Panels.

“There is a growing industry trend toward natural metals, like zinc, because of their sustainability and long life-span,” said Tom Zombek, product manager, CENTRIA. “By adding a zinc substrate option to our Concept and IW Series panels, we are not only providing architects with more choices within these already versatile product lines, but creating a new option that complements our commitment to creating products that offer outstanding aesthetics, performance and sustainability.”

Norbert Schneider, president of Umicore Building Products USA, which sells the VMZINC manufactured by the global Umicore Group, expressed his pleasure about the partnership:

“We consider CENTRIA one of the best established brands in the segment of the metalic building envelope and it is a household name in architectural offices around the country,” he said. “That means architects will hear about VMZINC from a new and additional source.”

The new zinc panels will be available in a 1mm (.039 inches) thickness with a smooth, non-embossed finish. The panels will be available in five pre-weathered zinc colors from VMZINC, including Quart-Zinc^® – Grey, Anthra-Zinc^® – Black and Pigmento^® – Red, Blue and Green.

For more information about zinc panels, visit CENTRIA.com.

For more information on VMZINC, visit www.vmzinc-us.com.

About VMZINC and Umicore Building Products:

VMZinc Upgrades Its Websites Around The Globe

Categories: Umicore Building Products
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With an emphasis on uniform, user-friendly navigation and more access to product information.

February 24, 2012 (Raleigh, NC) – VMZinc®, Umicore Building Products’ brand for architectural zinc, has revamped its websites around the globe to give all of them the same look, the same user-friendly and uniform navigation capabilities, and to include more extensive information.

According to Chandra Hester, marketing director for Umicore Building Products USA, the new VMZinc sites “make it easier for a customer in France or Shanghai to navigate through the American website, and the same for someone in Canada to use the French website.”

This ease of navigation is important, she said, because not every country carries the same product range. This allows customers to more easily order VMZinc products from another country.

“The new sites are more user-friendly with a cleaner look,” Hester said, “making it easier to download details, find important information to answer any zinc questions, and to specify jobs within a few clicks.”

In addition, the new homepage for each country now has much more information, making it easier to access information in fewer clicks.

“And we have our social media links — Facebook, Twitter, the ZINCsense blog, and our new YouTube channel — displayed throughout the entire website,” Hester pointed out.

Also on the right hand side of the homepages, potential customers will find useful information pertaining to each of VMZinc’s systems, including project photos, installation guides, specification, details, and magazines featuring the product in award-winning projects.

The text throughout the site has also been carefully edited to be as concise and easily understood as possible.

To see the improved VMZinc websites, go to www.vmzinc.com, click on “VMZinc worldwide,” then click on the country.

About Umicore Building Products USA, Inc.

Umicore is a world-leading producer of architectural zinc. For over 160 years Umicore has been providing innovative solutions for building owners, architects, and contractors. Umicore has offices and representatives all over the world. In the United States, Umicore Building Products USA, Inc., is based in Raleigh, NC. For additional information, visit www.vmzinc-us.com.

Umicore Building Products Makes National News

Categories: VMZINC
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For LEED Gold project and global ranking.

February 7, 2012 (Raleigh, NC) – Umicore Building Products USA (UBP), the manufacturer of VMZinc® architecture zinc, made national news recently in three publications.

The January/February edition of Architectural Productsmagazine spotlights Puyullap City Hall in

Puyallup City Hall

Puyullap, Washington, a LEED Gold certified project whose façade features VMZinc’s interlocking rain-screen panels in Quartz Zinc. Designed by Mithum Architects of Seattle, Washington, the city hall is a public/private partnership effort intended to renew Puyullap’s urban core.

For the city hall’s mixed-material façade, Mithum specified VMZinc’s Quartz-Zinc panels to add needed texture to the exterior of a building that occupies almost an entire city block. The rain screen system is self-supporting and the panels connect via an interlocking groove, which creates the appearance of a recessed joint.

Design and Build with Metal.com, a major online resource for the metal construction industry, and Metal Architecture, the leading authority on the use of metal in architectural applications and building design, both featured the recent news that Corporate Knights magazine once again ranked Umicore in the top 10 of the world’s most sustainable corporations. Umicore ranked eighth in the “Global 100 Most Sustainable Companies” for “innovation, diversity, and productivity related to a set of environmental factors.”

“What an honor it is to be a part of a company that is dynamic, sustainable and known for working with really talented architects and installers,” said Dan Nicely, Director of Market Development at VMZinc North America.

Umicore is a 200-year-old global materials technology group headquartered in Brussels, Belgium, and the parent company of Umicore Building Products USA, whose international headquarters is based in Raleigh, North Carolina. For more information on the Umicore Group, go to www.umicore.com. For more information on UBP and VMZinc, visit www.vmzinc-us.com.

About Umicore:

Umicore is a global materials technology group. It focuses on application areas where its expertise in materials science, chemistry and metallurgy makes a real difference. Its activities are centered on four business areas: Catalysis, Energy Materials, Performance Materials, and Recycling. Each business area is divided into market-focused business units offering materials and solutions that are at the cutting edge of new technological developments and essential to everyday life. For more information: www.umicore.com.

About Umicore Building Products USA:

Umicore is a world-leading producer of VMZINC® architectural zinc. For over 160 years, Umicore has been providing innovative solutions for building owners, architects, and contractors. Umicore has offices and representatives all over the world. In the United States, Umicore Building Products USA, Inc., is based in Raleigh, North Carolina. For additional information: www.vmzinc-us.com.

Two 2012 AIA Honor Award Winners Feature VMZinc Exteriors

Categories: Umicore Building Products, VMZINC
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Architectural zinc adds to beauty, sustainability of two projects.

The Gates-Hillman Centers

(Raleigh, NC) — Two of the nine projects from around the world that recently received 2012 Honor Awards from the American Institute of Architects (AIA) feature VMZINC® exteriors.

The award-winning Carnegie Mellon University’s Gates Center for Computer Science and the Hillman Center for Future-Generation Technologies were designed by Mack Scogin Merrill Elam Architects of Atlanta, Ga., with attention to energy and water conservation and other sustainable practices.

The centers’ zinc exterior skin and distinctive window openings differ from the predominately yellow brick, historically influenced buildings on the CMU campus. Yet the jurors believed the zinc skin and window openings “surprisingly relate beautifully to the campus fabric without being literal.”

Last year, both centers received LEED® Gold certification. The use of architectural zinc contributed to the certification because zinc is manufactured using very little energy, it lasts an average of 80 years with very little maintenance, and it is completely recyclable, both during construction (construction scraps) and at the end of its use.

Another award-winning project with a VMZINC exterior is The Poetry Foundation in Chicago, designed by John Ronan Architects. The building’s outer layer is VMZINC’s black ANTHRA-ZINC®. Since transparency was an important issue in the design, the ANTHRA-ZINC is perforated where it borders the garden, allowing visual access to the garden from the street. Inside the garden, the zinc screen wall internalizes the garden experience and provides a sense of removal.

The Poetry Foundation was featured in Architectural Record in November prior to winning one of this year’s AIA Honor Awards.

“We talk a lot about the sustainability of zinc but there’s also the aesthetic quality,” said Daniel Nicely, director of market development for VMZINC® and an associate member of the AIA. “Architectural zinc allows architects to easily create interesting and innovative forms. We’re proud that our product played a major role in the striking design and sustainability of both of these award-winning projects.”

For more information on the 2012 AIA Honor Awards, go to http://www.aia.org/practicing/awards/2012/architecture/.

For more information on VMZINC, visit https://www.vmzinc-us.com/.

About Umicore Building Products USA, Inc.

Umicore Building Products is a world-leading producer of architectural zinc. For over 160 years, Umicore has been providing innovative solutions for building owners, architects and contractors. Umicore has offices and representatives all over the world. In the United States, Umicore Building Products USA, Inc., is based in Raleigh, NC. For additional information, visit www.vmzinc-us.com. VMZINC also maintains the blog ZINCsense (www.zincsense.com) and an active Facebook page.

VMZINC® Enjoys Record Attendance at Expo CIHAC

Categories: architecture, business, construction, events, green architecture, news
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L-R: Juan Clavel, Veronica Valderrama, Esperanza Munguía, Lili Martinez, and Francisco Jover.

November 21, 2011 (Raleigh, NC) — If attendance at the VMZINC® booth at Expo CIHAC last month is any indication, Mexico will be a thriving market for Umicore Building Products, as the global company anticipates.

Expo CIHAC is the premier event in Mexico and Latin America for the building, construction, and housing industries. Held at Centro Banamex in Mexico City, the show features building materials, machinery, equipment, hand and power tools, building systems and prefabricated technologies, financial services, real estate, finished houses, insulates, piping, and more. Expo CIHAC also includes various technical seminars about the latest challenges and trends of the industry.

Architect Juan Clavel of Aldbanta Arquitects and the NOW Specialities, Inc., agent in Mexico, manned the VMZINC booth assisted by Francisco Jover, VMZINC Director of Sales in Spain.

The booth featured all of Umicore’s VMZINC architectural zinc products, including ALPOLIC composite zinc by Mitsubishi Plastics Composites American, Inc., using NOW’s zinc composite rainscreen systems.

According to Verónica Valderrama, coordinator of Mexico-Sales, attendance was “incredible. This was only our second year exhibiting at Expo CIHAC. The first year we had over 500 registered visitors to our booth. This year we had over 1000 registered visitors. Total attendance for the show has not been released, but the previous year was over 50,000.”

Expo CIHAC attracts exhibitors from all over the world and is attended primarily by people in the industries from Mexico, Central and South America.

“With our Mexican companies’ work experience in the past and the interest in our products at this year’s expo, we believe Mexico will be a great market for VMZINC,” Valderrama said.

For more information on VMZINC, visit www.vmzinc-us.com.

For more information on Expo Cihac, go to www.cihac.com.mx/.

About Umicore Building Products USA, Inc.

Umicore is a world-leading producer of architectural zinc. For over 160 years Umicore has been providing innovative solutions for building owners, architects and contractors. Umicore has offices and representatives all over the world. In the United States, Umicore Building Products USA, Inc., is based in Raleigh, NC. For additional information, visit www.vmzinc-us.com.

Umicore Building Products Holds Open House in New Headquarters

Categories: architecture, building products, business, construction, green architecture, modern architecture, news
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November 15, 2011 (Raleigh, NC) – Umicore Building Products USA, manufacturer of VMZINC® architectural zinc, held an open house together with its parent company Umicore USA in its new North American headquarters at 3600 Glenwood Avenue in Raleigh, North Carolina, on November 1.

Umicore invited site managers from North America as well as corporate executives from global European headquarters to the open house, along with customers, clients, and other companies with whom Umicore does business.

UBP North American President Norbert Schneider and Daniel Nicely, Associate AIA and Director of Market Development, welcomed 150 guests as they toured the company’s new 15,000-square-foot headquarters.

Other company VIPS in attendance included Ravila Gupta, President of Umicore USA; Martine Verluyten, Former Chief Financial Officer of Umicore; LudoVandervelden, Chief Financial Officer of Umicore; and Denis Goffaux, Chief Technology Office of Umicore.

Catering Works catered the event.

For more information on Umicore Building Products and VMZINC, visit www.vmzinc-us.com.

About Umicore Building Products USA, Inc.

Umicore Building Products Wins Project of Distinction Award

Categories: architecture, building products, construction, environment, green architecture, modern architecture, news
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American Builders Quarterly praises Gateway Center project.

The Gateway Center features extensive use of VMZINC architectural zinc.

November 2, 2011 (Raleigh, NC) — American Builders Quarterly magazine (ABQ) has chosen the Gateway Center at Westchester Community College in Valhalla, New York, as a Project of Distinction in its 2011 Building Excellence Awards.

Umicore Building Products USA (UBP) entered the 70,000-square-foot project in ABQ’s annual competition since it features extensive use of VMZINC® architecture zinc. Umicore, UBP’s global parent company, is a world-leading manufacturer of architectural zinc.

Designed by Ennead Architects LLP of New York with Worth Construction as contractor, the Gateway Center’s building materials integrate the structure with the existing fabric of the campus and establish a new signature building for the College. Fieldstone at the base of the building resonates with historic buildings on campus, while offices and classrooms, cantilevered over a base of structurally glazed walls, are clad in VMZINC (installed by Barrett Roofing).

“We received entries from all over the nation, but [Umicore’s] stood out as an exemplary work in keeping with the best aesthetic and pragmatic traditions of architecture, engineering, and construction management in the United States,” said ABQ features editor Geoff George.

“We are honored to receive the American Builders Quarterly award,” said Dan Nicely, Director of Market Development UBP. “And we are very proud to be associated with such a great project by the very talented designers at Ennead Architects.”

The project is featured in ABQ’s November-December edition.

The Gateway Center also recently received a national award from the Metal Construction Association for “the exceptional use of metal in innovative architectural designs.”

Now in its fifth year covering America’s construction industry, American Builders Quarterly provides an industry-specific look at high-quality companies spanning all aspects of the building trade. For more information on ABQ and to download the digital edition, go to http://americanbuildersquarterly.com.

For more information on Umicore Building Products USA and VMZINC®, visit www.vmzinc-us.com.

About Umicore Building Products USA, Inc.

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