I've written gold leafing specs before. It's a weird spec to put together since you don't have any quality standards to go by. So you rely on stiff installer qualifications (including proof of previous work) and mockups. It's one of few trades left that relies on craftsmanship.
All gold leafing (in our case) was done by very talented artists (painters) who never struck it rich. They'll also do all your faux paint work as well.
Can't really comment on quality of design intent, but installed work can vary greatly in execution. It depends on what you ask for.
Wooo. Thanks. I've been searching around but most of what I've found borders on inappropriately gaudy.
Also, I didn't even think about aluminum leaf!
I've been looking at it from a radiant heat barrier point of view since at normal operating temperatures, gold blocks 98%+ radiant heat. An ounce of pure gold can make about 3000 square feet of gold leaf-- at $1450 an oz, that's a little bit over $2 a square foot.
I'm looking at the aesthetics point of view of to see if it would fit in modern architecture.
My idea is to use a non-stick wax coating on the inside of concrete form work, apply gold to it and then pour concrete into the form. The shaking and vibrating part of setting the concrete should impart most of the gold leaf into the exterior of the concrete as gold-leaf doesn't stick to wax to well.
Hopefully, the high gold concentration on the exterior of the concrete should provide a small radiative barrier while providing a maintenance-free and decorative finish. I think this might be possible with aluminum but gold corrodes at an astronomically slow rate compared to aluminum.
gold leafing is 88%copper and 12%zinc. The more you know.
Other than that, your cunning plan to gold leaf an entire structure for purposes of radiant heat barrier (whatever that even means) is the most retarded thing I hear today.
I realize that I could use glues, sealants and other products but I've been thinking about the idea of making a radiant heat-resistant concrete composite that doesn't extend all the way through the concrete itself that is more or less a permanent composite material.
It seems that even the smallest change of the aggregate mix in concrete can have devastating effects on the intended performance values. In addition, even using something much cheaper such as glass glitter or other shiny materials would be prohibitively expensive when looking at the overall volume in some projects.
Unicorn, there is an entire section devoted to what you think you're inventing. It's called High-temperature resistant coatings (099644) and you typically apply them to steel.
Heat resistant coating for concrete is just plain stupid. Heat resistance for your skull would be more interesting.
Oh, and that Gold leaf named "24K blah blah" is actually not gold.
Edible gold leafing (for food) can not be made from copper though, so the claims to it being actual gold are more believable.
Except that this isn't high-temperature resistant coatings.
The idea is that concrete slabs have a heat absorption value of roughly around 0.80-0.85 (emissivity). Gold leaf, on the other hand, has an emissivity of roughly 0.03-0.05.
If it's possibly to even get 33% of the concrete covered in a substantial bonded layer of gold leaf. Obviously, it would drop the emissivity of the concrete tremendously by slowing the overall solar heat gain and loss from the exposed surface.
This is a non-toxic, non-plastic and aesthetic approach to mitigation solar gain using pretty and sparkle.
You want to put gold leaf on a slab/ structure? Is it even exposed? What are you planning to do with any reflected infrared that is now redirected to other parts of the space, assuming it performs perfectly (which it won't)?
I am all for experimentation with new materials, but this sounds pretty out there, and at best, dubious from an engineering perspective.
applying gold leaf to the inside of a form won't work.
the concrete placement will probably knock the gold leaf off of the forms and possibly concentrate it to the bottom of the form, maybe maybe not. but it is a big risk to get the proper adhesion and coverage.
a better way would be to invent a gold leaf spray. to be applied with standard painting equipment.
Or just use aluminum paint, which has been used for exactly this purpose for over 50 years on, for example, foundry suits.
Go do it is right, even if you could put formwork together in such a way that you could line it with wax, and then cover it with leaf, just the air displacement caused by pouring the concrete would destroy the leaf. The heat from the curing concrete could also melt the wax (what kind?) which might also produce a moisture barrier, preventing the concrete from curing properly.
And Herzog and De Mueron's unbuilt proposal for a Greek Orthodox Church, from their early days. I couldn't find images online, but I think it would have been among their best works if built.
Actually, I saw it being used at a NYC jewelery store project at the firm I previously worked for.
Sincerely, it was unimpressive. They were using reflect light off of relatively large cavities in the ceiling where lightning was installed. Paired with heavily modernist forms, it's just an awkward combination.
There's a lot of potential for the material though. Gage-Clemenceau's PS1 canopy proposal comes to mind.
Apr 11, 11 10:14 pm ·
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Has anyone ever used gold leaf in a contemporary project?
... that wasn't commissioned by Donald Trump.
Any precedents out there (other than the Russian Pavilion at the World Expo) using gold leaf in modern and contemporary architecture?
Don't know about actual projects, bu I used a fair amount in student work. Mostly, no one seemed to notice.
I believe there's gold leaf used in the Casa da Musica in Porto by OMA.
4th pic down...
http://spaceintext.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/casa-da-musica_charlie-koolhaas-c16_560x374x90.jpg?w=380&h=285
Winspear Opera House
white gold leaf balcony fronts
http://www.archdaily.com/41069/winspear-opera-house-foster-partners/1173_fp378101/
More contemporary is aluminum leaf, which I used in my last house.
It's on the floating panel in the dining room, barely visible in this photo.
i wrapped my bagel in aluminum leaf this morning.
Aluminum leaf - it's like aluminum foil, but not so much.
Exactly mespellwrong. It's close to the color of the non-shiny side of aluminum foil, but it's leaf so it's nearly transparent. It's really nice.
I've written gold leafing specs before. It's a weird spec to put together since you don't have any quality standards to go by. So you rely on stiff installer qualifications (including proof of previous work) and mockups. It's one of few trades left that relies on craftsmanship.
All gold leafing (in our case) was done by very talented artists (painters) who never struck it rich. They'll also do all your faux paint work as well.
Can't really comment on quality of design intent, but installed work can vary greatly in execution. It depends on what you ask for.
rusty - what's the fire-rating on gold leaf? is it covered in the prescriptive method in IBC?
fire-rating?? umm there would be none.
Even smoke-developed index would be negligible.
There really aren't ANY standards for leafing (be that gold, or silver, or copper).
Think of it as acrylic paint (I think the top coat that holds the leafing together is acrylic).
Wooo. Thanks. I've been searching around but most of what I've found borders on inappropriately gaudy.
Also, I didn't even think about aluminum leaf!
I've been looking at it from a radiant heat barrier point of view since at normal operating temperatures, gold blocks 98%+ radiant heat. An ounce of pure gold can make about 3000 square feet of gold leaf-- at $1450 an oz, that's a little bit over $2 a square foot.
I'm looking at the aesthetics point of view of to see if it would fit in modern architecture.
My idea is to use a non-stick wax coating on the inside of concrete form work, apply gold to it and then pour concrete into the form. The shaking and vibrating part of setting the concrete should impart most of the gold leaf into the exterior of the concrete as gold-leaf doesn't stick to wax to well.
Hopefully, the high gold concentration on the exterior of the concrete should provide a small radiative barrier while providing a maintenance-free and decorative finish. I think this might be possible with aluminum but gold corrodes at an astronomically slow rate compared to aluminum.
gold leafing is 88%copper and 12%zinc. The more you know.
Other than that, your cunning plan to gold leaf an entire structure for purposes of radiant heat barrier (whatever that even means) is the most retarded thing I hear today.
But you always deliver crazy with style unicorn.
I realize that I could use glues, sealants and other products but I've been thinking about the idea of making a radiant heat-resistant concrete composite that doesn't extend all the way through the concrete itself that is more or less a permanent composite material.
It seems that even the smallest change of the aggregate mix in concrete can have devastating effects on the intended performance values. In addition, even using something much cheaper such as glass glitter or other shiny materials would be prohibitively expensive when looking at the overall volume in some projects.
Gold leafing can be anything depending the quality of gold used. They do make 24k gold leafing, you know.
why not completely forgo the concrete and do a solid gold structure?
Thermal bridging, obviously.
Unicorn, there is an entire section devoted to what you think you're inventing. It's called High-temperature resistant coatings (099644) and you typically apply them to steel.
Heat resistant coating for concrete is just plain stupid. Heat resistance for your skull would be more interesting.
Oh, and that Gold leaf named "24K blah blah" is actually not gold.
Edible gold leafing (for food) can not be made from copper though, so the claims to it being actual gold are more believable.
Except that this isn't high-temperature resistant coatings.
The idea is that concrete slabs have a heat absorption value of roughly around 0.80-0.85 (emissivity). Gold leaf, on the other hand, has an emissivity of roughly 0.03-0.05.
If it's possibly to even get 33% of the concrete covered in a substantial bonded layer of gold leaf. Obviously, it would drop the emissivity of the concrete tremendously by slowing the overall solar heat gain and loss from the exposed surface.
This is a non-toxic, non-plastic and aesthetic approach to mitigation solar gain using pretty and sparkle.
A.k.a. Like Gehry's death ray buildings except that this would cost approximately 16 times less than using titanium cladding.
Well, you have me sold. Now time for you to do some product testing (if you haven't already started)
This is the funniest thing I've read so far today (it's not yet 9am, but still).
I can't tell if this is a joke or not-
If it isn't:
You want to put gold leaf on a slab/ structure? Is it even exposed? What are you planning to do with any reflected infrared that is now redirected to other parts of the space, assuming it performs perfectly (which it won't)?
I am all for experimentation with new materials, but this sounds pretty out there, and at best, dubious from an engineering perspective.
If it is:
Ha!
applying gold leaf to the inside of a form won't work.
the concrete placement will probably knock the gold leaf off of the forms and possibly concentrate it to the bottom of the form, maybe maybe not. but it is a big risk to get the proper adhesion and coverage.
a better way would be to invent a gold leaf spray. to be applied with standard painting equipment.
if you can do that you would be mega rich
http://www.radiantbarrierguru.com/there-is-no-such-thing-as-radiant-barrier-paint/
Or just use aluminum paint, which has been used for exactly this purpose for over 50 years on, for example, foundry suits.
Go do it is right, even if you could put formwork together in such a way that you could line it with wax, and then cover it with leaf, just the air displacement caused by pouring the concrete would destroy the leaf. The heat from the curing concrete could also melt the wax (what kind?) which might also produce a moisture barrier, preventing the concrete from curing properly.
Two nice unbuilt projects that proposed to use gold leaf:
Zaha Hadid's proposal for an expansion of the Islamic Wing of the Louvre, which would have been much better than what is being built.
And Herzog and De Mueron's unbuilt proposal for a Greek Orthodox Church, from their early days. I couldn't find images online, but I think it would have been among their best works if built.
Actually, I saw it being used at a NYC jewelery store project at the firm I previously worked for.
Sincerely, it was unimpressive. They were using reflect light off of relatively large cavities in the ceiling where lightning was installed. Paired with heavily modernist forms, it's just an awkward combination.There's a lot of potential for the material though. Gage-Clemenceau's PS1 canopy proposal comes to mind.
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