Kalwall Corporation

Middle West Spirits / Jonathan Barnes Architecture and Design

University of Nebraska–Lincoln College of Architecture

To accommodate growing enrollment, the University of Nebraska College of Architecture expanded within its historic complex—Architecture Hall (1891), the former Law College (1921), and the Link Building (1985)—by repurposing the underused Link Building as the anchor for a new addition rather than demolishing existing structures. This adaptive reuse preserved the campus’s architectural heritage while introducing flexible studios, critique spaces, a restored historic auditorium, and a new façade that redefines the college’s identity. Located at the western edge of campus, the addition serves as a gateway and gathering space, connecting paths from parking areas to the football stadium and aligning sightlines toward Philip Johnson’s Sheldon Museum. Built on a fast 24-month timeline, the project emphasized sustainability through prefabricated mass timber construction, using LVL columns and beams with CLT slabs to reduce waste and accelerate assembly. Exposed structural and mechanical systems make the building a visible learning tool, highlighting timber craftsmanship and material honesty while maximizing natural light. A prefabricated Kalwall façade of translucent, fiber-reinforced polymer panels integrates structure, insulation, and cladding, diffusing daylight by day and emitting a warm glow at night. The design further improves energy efficiency through durable, low-maintenance materials, low-flow fixtures, low-E glazing, and 1,500 square feet of native landscaping that supports biodiversity and reduces irrigation. Guided by circular economy principles, the project reused existing foundations for new mechanical systems, restored historic spaces, improved accessibility, and preserved infrastructure where feasible, creating a highly adaptable, sustainable environment that serves current needs while remaining flexible for the future.

Benenden Hospital

In healthcare architecture, maximizing natural daylight is vital to enhancing patient and staff well-being, and the recent $76 million (£55 million) renovation of Benenden Hospital in Kent, UK, exemplifies this principle. Benenden, an independent hospital in southeast England known for being “progressively modern, unquestionably clean and genuinely caring,” now welcomes visitors through a bright, airy atrium illuminated by stunning Kalwall® translucent skylights. Designed by CA Vaughan Blundell Architects with SR Architects Ltd, the renovation uses Kalwall’s translucent sandwich panels to flood the atrium and lounge areas with soft, glare-free daylight, creating a calm and uplifting environment that supports healing and comfort. Beyond illuminating the spaces directly below, the skylights also diffuse ambient light into adjoining areas, promoting a cohesive and naturally lit interior. The Kalwall system’s highly insulated composition minimizes glare, hotspots, and solar gain, reducing energy demands for lighting and temperature control—an achievement made even more notable given the project’s extensive use of curtain walling and clerestory glazing. Specified to help the hospital achieve a BREEAM rating of “Good,” the panels support compliance with the UK’s Climate Change Act of 2008 and Part L of the 2010 Building Regulations, aligning sustainability with aesthetic and functional goals. “The use of Kalwall represented the best value balance of energy saving and cost, and provided us with the ideal way to achieve spatial daylighting within regulatory requirements,” noted Geoff Holden, Senior Technician at CA Vaughan Blundell. With its durability, low maintenance, and ability to create a naturally lit, welcoming atmosphere, Kalwall played a key role in transforming Benenden Hospital into a model of modern, patient-centered healthcare design.

Odeon Theatre

Performance. Economy. Beauty. Kalwall’s museum-quality daylighting™ solutions are sought after by architects, contractors and owners because of those three qualities. In the case of the Odeon Theatre in Bournemouth, UK, it is aesthetic beauty first and foremost that makes a curtainwall of Kalwall translucent sandwich panels a key element of this prestige project. Framed in a lantern-like glow of Kalwall curtainwall, the Odeon Theatre’s façade is the signature feature of Bh2, a sprawling cinema and leisure complex in the heart of the English seaside city. Over 3,000 square feet (1,000 sq. m) of Kalwall panels were used in this bold design, which has transformed the site of a former bus station. The curtainwall flanks the theatre’s main signage, giving it the symbolic feel of two large screens that hint of the cinematic excitement inside. The Odeon features 10 screens, reclining seats and a play area for kids in front of select screens. The concession area looks like something dreamed up at the Willy Wonka Candy Company. The translucent cladding encapsulates the building across all nine elevations and encloses the external fire escapes. At night, the cladding creates a warm, inviting and ethereal glow that serves as a beacon for visitors and mitigates any issues with light pollution to the surrounding residential and commercial buildings. Just as achieving the right angles and light are important to cinematic quality, the proper daylighting of a building is critical for the comfort of its patrons. Kalwall provides that comfort by eliminating the stark contrasts of light and shade. Kalwall also offers complete line-of-sight protection, maintaining privacy for building occupants. The system enhances simplicity by doing away with the need for blinds, curtains or solar control. Even on cloudy days, the interior is flooded with natural daylight, which means less artificial lighting and, because Kalwall is highly insulating, energy costs are reduced.