 
YKK AP Teams Up with Project Frog to Deliver
Net-Zero Capable Smart Building Solutions
August 17, 2010
YKK
AP America and Project
Frog announced the forming of a strategic
relationship to provide YKK AP's architectural
aluminum products to Project Frog for
use in its sustainable building solutions
earlier today. This partnership enables
Project Frog to provide its customers
with proven, customized architectural
solutions to meet a variety of performance
levels up to and including net-zero, based
on the customer's specific needs.
Project Frog offers a solution for schools,
retail outlets, healthcare facilities,
parks and recreation, and government institutions
that are often under financial and time
constraints that conventional construction
methods cannot address, according to the
company.
The
goal is to develop these buildings in
a sustainable manner, in a short amount
of time and at a low cost, according to
the companies.
In order to meet the needs of Project
Frog to assure repeatable quality, minimize
field labor, and support rapid on-site
installation with little or no site waste,
YKK AP joined forces with its exclusive
United States fabricated products distributor,
Erie Architectural Products. Together,
Erie and YKK AP will provide fully pre-assembled
and pre-glazed façade systems for
mobilization to Project Frog building
sites across the globe.
Oliver Stepe, senior vice president of
YKK AP America, told USGNN.com that the
two groups started discussions about a
possible partnership at the GreenBuild
Show in 2008.
"I took a lot of personal interest
in the concept," said Stepe. "I
loved the business idea, which was to
create a modular structurean amazing
transformation from what we are used to
seeing. They were creating these wonderful
structures with a lot of natural light."
In
fact, that use of natural light is one
facet that both parties find so appealing
about the program.
"ASHRAE proposed to reduce window
to wall ratios, 40 percent to 30 percent,"
points out Mike Turner, vice president
of marketing and technical services for
YKK. "What's exciting is that Project
Frog shows you can still main high levels
of daylighting. It's really appealing
to sit in one of these buildings with
so much natural light. In order to be
energy efficient you don't have to design
a box with a few openings."
Stepe agrees, saying these buildings
create a great balance.
"We are proving the pundits of the
other viewpoints wrong," he says.
"One of the trademarks of our buildings
is a lot of daylighting," adds Ash
Notaney, vice president, supply chain,
at Project Frog. "You want to allow
the maximum amount of natural light. That's
what makes people feel good."
Stepe says the two companies engaged
in a lot of dialogue about how they could
work together.
"We eventually came up with a supply
chain solution-how to do this in short
order through Erie, a distributor of ours,"
he adds. "What we're doing is creating
unitized re-glazed modular systems that
really streamlines the chain but still
offers lots of options."
At the core of this program is the ability
to offer energy-efficient solutions and
Notaney says YKK was a great company to
help them achieve their goals.
"We've been looking for this sort
of unitized approach for awhile,"
he says. "There are two things that
made YKK stand out: their commitment to
energy efficiency and how they approach
that. They believe in us and we believe
in them and that defines this partnership."
"From our perspective we are now
in a position to take this big and we
are ecstatic about it," adds Stepe.
Need more info and analysis about the issues?
CLICK
HERE to subscribe to USGlass magazine.
|