Nanogel® Translucent Aerogel Provides Superior Daylighting for Big Cat Exhibit

Nanogel® translucent aerogel, Cabot Corporation’s innovative daylighting material that combines high light transmission with energy efficiency, has now been used to improve the natural balance of daylight to the interior environment in a US zoo , that houses four species of large cats and one of hyena.

The daylight needs of the animals were of primary concern to Dr Bruce Beeler, deputy director of the Milwaukee Zoo in Wisconsin, who oversees animal exhibits and buildings including the popular feline exhibit. “A natural light cycle and an environment that conveys openness are necessary to provide a healthy indoor habitat for the animals,” says Beeler. “Studies show that daylight has a positive effect on the reproductive cycles of animals and it is an essential aid to their natural production of vitamin D. This was at the forefront of our thinking when we needed to renovate the big cat enclosure to comply with the state’s new regulations relating to energy conservation.”

As is progressively becoming the norm across Europe, the state of Wisconsin requires that all building envelopes, including renovated buildings, comply with energy programme codes originally developed for new construction projects only. “Paradoxically, one unintended effect of this mandate is that the healthy effects of daylight on mammals, including humans, are minimised for the sake of energy efficiency,” says Dale Nielsen, owner of Nielsen Building Systems, a Kalwall® translucent building panel distributor for almost 20 years. “Moreover, many large-scale daylighting systems are inefficient in that they transmit energy from the heating and cooling of indoor spaces to the exterior environment.”

According to Todd Johnson, the project’s architect from Zimmerman Design Group: “The stringent requirements of Wisconsin’s energy saving programme effectively narrowed our choice of system to Nanogel to insulate the skylights, as no alternatives could match the criteria. As we couldn’t efficiently add insulation between the existing concrete walls and sprayed concrete rockwork, this project would not have met the building envelope requirements for energy efficiency without Kalwall® + Nanogel.”

When compared with alternative materials used in the construction of translucent building elements such as fibreglass reinforced translucent polyester and translucent multi-wall polycarbonate panels, unit skylights, U-channel glass and insulated flat-glass products, Nanogel aerogel substantially exceeds their potential for light diffusion and thermal insulation.

Kalwall + Nanogel, translucent silica aerogel, can deliver light transmission and thermal insulation levels of between two and four times greater than those achievable with other current technologies to give reduced HVAC costs and museum-quality diffuse, glare-free daylight, without hot spots or shadows. Moreover, it can improve acoustic insulation. Importantly, Nanogel maintains both performance and aesthetic appearance throughout its working life.

The project was a complete retrofit of the energy-inefficient, concrete and sprayed concrete rockwork type of building common in the 1960s, including removal of the entire built-up roofing system and replacing nearly 50 percent of the roof area with ridge- and shed-configuration skylights. The lion’s den features a Kalwall + Nanogel ridge skylight of approximately 10.5x10.5m, on a 5:12 pitch.

“In early February the Kalwall + Nanogel team visited the job site and measured an outside surface temperature of 1°C and an interior surface temperature of 27°C,” says Bruce Keller, vice president of marketing for Kalwall. “Frost had actually built up on the outside of the skylight panels where the Nanogel-insulated Kalwall panels prevented heat loss and the immediate melt off associated with traditional translucent roof materials.”

“That’s the power of Nanogel,” agrees Jim Satterwhite, global business manager for Nanogel Construction Segment, Cabot. “Our preliminary indications are that the Kalwall + Nanogel skylights used in the zoo exhibit are performing every bit as well as earlier installations, and the cats appear to like it.”

Reconstruction of the Florence Mila Borchert Big Cat Country exhibit at the Milwaukee Zoo is completed and the animals have been moved in and are adapting to their new energy-efficient habitat. Now with the increased size of the exhibits and a more natural daylight environment the zoo has room for more cats in the Feline House. New additions are planned and hopes are high that the Milwaukee Zoo will be able to breed at least two species, lions and Siberian tigers.

Reader enquiries

Cabot Corporation
Interleuvenlaan 15 I
B-3001 Leuven

Belgium
+32 1639 2578
Donald_Beck@​Cabot-Corp.com
www.cabot-corp.com

---

Notes for editors

About Kalwall

Since 1955, Kalwall has been acclaimed for its innovation and continued research into daylighting the development of translucent building technologies. No other manufacturer in the world has dedicated its entire existence of nearly half a century to the art and science of designing with daylight. The continuous evolution of the Kalwall translucent sandwich building panel technology, invented by company founder Robert Keller, has made it possible for architects and building designers to fully exercise their imaginations to incorporate daylight into their designs.

Additional information is available on the company website: www.kalwall.com.

About Nanogel

Cabot Corporation created Nanogel, in part to insulate thermally inefficient glazing systems. The feather-light aerogel is based on Cabot's patented surface modification and fine-particle manufacturing technology. The nanoporous particles have an air content of 97% and weigh only 80g per litre, making Nanogel the lightest solid material in the world. It provides a superior combination of thermal and sound insulation as well as light transmission and diffusion over other insulation materials. These benefits offer new design solutions for architects where both maximum natural daylight levels and energy efficiency are required. Nanogel is manufactured exclusively by Cabot in Frankfurt, Germany.

Visit the website at: www.nanogel.com.

About Cabot Corporation

Cabot Corporation is a global specialty chemicals and materials company headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. Cabot's major products are carbon black, fumed silica, inkjet colorants, capacitor materials, and cesium formate drilling fluids.

The website address is: www.cabot-corp.com.

Nanogel is a registered trademark of Cabot Corporation.

Kalwall is a registered trademark of Kalwall Corporation USA.