TAL is proud to be associated with the Soweto Theatre in Jabulani for which it supplied various products to install almost 7000m² of glazed stoneware tiles.
The company issued a materials and methods specification for the facade cladding, which entailed fixing glazed stoneware tiles in a mosaic format. TAL conducted weekly site inspections to ensure tiling proceeded as per the specification and provided site reports for the tiling installation. TAL Goldstar 6; TAL Keycoat; TAL Bond and light grey TAL Wall & Floor Grout were used for this installation.
“We required guarantees on the tile adhesive, which TAL was able to provide as they supplied installation instructions and conducted regular site inspections,” says Tatenda H. Mavunga, architect at Afritects.
Renton Haskell, site engineer for the Group Five Building/Inkanyeli JV, the main contractor, adds that regular checks and inspections were carried out by both TAL and Afritects as part of the requirements of all parties involved, ensuring the correct specification was followed. “When challenges were confronted, the team called in TAL to investigate and issue the relevant TAL spec to suit the situation and supply the best product,” he says.
The theatre consists of a 420 seat main venue and two smaller venues. The three theatre boxes were tiled with glazed stoneware tiles in three primary colours; red, blue and yellow, to make them easily identifiable.
“The brief called for three boxes to be used for theatrical performances and we devised the idea that these boxes had to be coloured for ease of identification and that the character of the entire building would primarily derive from these colours,” says Mavunga.
Each theatre box has a domed roof where TAL Sureproof was used to waterproof junctions between the panels. “When approached by the main contractor, Group Five Building/Inkanyeli JV, with concerns regarding the possibility of excessive movement in the precast panels making up the dome at the top and bottom structures, a highly modified adhesive suitable for those areas was developed in our laboratory, and special batches were manufactured specifically for the project,” says Sharon Margon, technical adviser at TAL.
The architects were after a non-homogenous, textured, shiny and bright cladding surface that is graffiti resistant and easily washable. Another condition was for the surface colours to be fade resistant so that they won’t deteriorate over time.
Ceramica vogue 100x100mm glazed stoneware tiles were used for the cladding as they fulfilled these requirements and allowed for a modular application that could be manipulated to make the necessary curves. These tiles also provided variations of the primary colours in matt and shiny, and dark and light finishes, which resulted in a rich and textured cladding.
“A surface that could reflect solar radiation and thereby reduce the heat load on the building was another requirement of the cladding for the Soweto Theatre,” says Mavunga. Afritects selected these glazed stoneware tiles for the cladding of the theatre as they have high heat capacity relative to other cladding systems and absorb heat energy with minimal gains in temperature, therefore reducing the heat transferred to the inside of the building and saving energy through reduced air-conditioning usage.
For more information visit www.tal.co.za or contact the TAL advisory service on 0860 000 (TAL)825.
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