NEWSWORTHY
BESPOKE FIXING SOLUTION CREATED BY TAL FOR THE NDZUNDZA / NZUNZA PORTRAIT
TAL is proud to have supplied a bespoke fixing solution for the Ndzundza / Nzunza Portrait, a larger than life art installation on the west wall of City Property’ s North City House in Braamfontein, now renamed Nzunza House. Working closely with artist, Hannelie Coetzee, a bespoke fixing solution was developed exclusively for this installation.
Using the concept of pixels as inspiration, Hannelie created the portrait using ceramic plates, bowls and cups from the Johannesburg-based manufacturer Liebermann Pottery. Each piece of crockery represents an individual pixel which together created the stunning image of an Ndzundza / Nzunza woman in profile. This awe-inspiring art installation extends some 5.5m wide, by 33m in height.
The challenges of bringing the Ndzundza / Nzunza Portrait to Johannesburg were many, requiring a very specific solution, which TAL was happy to develop and manufacture. The first issue was that the installation is on an exterior, west facing wall of the building, subject to direct sun in the afternoons, as well as rain and frost as the season’ s change. Furthermore, the‘ tiles’ were pieces of crockery where the individual items were pre-assembled onto a mesh backing, effectively creating a giant mosaic mural.
Nzunza House was previously covered with mosaics which had been removed, so a TAL Keymix and TAL Keycoat primer slurry coat was applied to the entire façade to prepare the surface for the installation. This slurry coat provides a level of water resistance to the installation as well as providing a suitable surface for the adhesive system to bond onto.
Secondly, a highly flexible installation system was essential so that the installation could flex and move with the anticipated
thermal expansion and contraction, without fear of cracking or delamination of the crockery items. Equally important, movement joints which extend all the way to the substrate throughout the installation were specified and established at regular intervals.
As Johannesburg experiences hailstorms, the larger pieces of crockery within the artwork were treated with a poly-propylene coating to protect them from damage. To ensure a strong bond between these pieces and the tile adhesive and grouting system, a TAL Keymix and TAL Keycoat primer slurry was applied to the back of each individual piece before being assembled onto the mesh backing. Additionally, these were positively fixed to the surface through carefully drilling through the larger plates and bowls, anchoring them not only with the tile
adhesive but also with screws into the wall. When installing mosaics or items like this, the bonding and grouting is generally done in one application to ensure a good bond. Thus, any voids between the plates, cups and bowls within the installation were filled with the bespoke adhesive and grout from TAL, delivering a smooth finish. www. tal. co. za
SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC LAUNCHES KNX FOR SMARTER BUILDINGS
Schneider Electric South Africa has announced the launch of KNX, a smart system that elevates buildings to new heights in automation.“ The KNX system offers comfort, efficiency and safety in residential, small commercial and large and critical structures through its wiser convergence, IP connectivity and smooth integration into existing systems,” explains James Calmeyer, Vice President Building, Southern Africa International Operations, Schneider Electric.“ We see its strengths in lighting & room control, HVAC control and safety & access control. Typical applications include smoke alarms, door entry systems, emergency lighting systems and SAE sensors.“ KNX is a bus system, manufactured to world standards, which brings building functions together and offers flexibility, safety, comfort and cost efficiency. In a conventional system, every function must be realised with one or more cables, must be planned in detail before installation and, if a function needs changing, the physical installation has to be changed. Each device is used for one function only and even lowlevel interaction between different functions become complex and cost intensive.“ However, with the bus system, there is a separation of information and energy, so only one cable( the bus) is used for all information, resulting in less control cables. The functions depend on programming; therefore logical connections between inputs and outputs replace physical connections. Users can change functions without touching the installation, it enables multiple use of single devices and complex interactions between different functions are easy. www. se. com / za
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