Ventilation

Why do you need a ventilated facade mesh?

Majority of parking garages are required to have a façade screening to cover the quintessential “ugly” parking garage.  However, it also must be maintained as open as well for ventilation.  These two ideas often fight against each other.

For an open parking garage to be classified as an actual “open” per your specific building code/governance you typically need a certain openness to the screening material.

A mesh that has a specified opacity (or openness) to it allowing for natural ventilation and maintains views through the screening material. (i.e. if a mesh is specified at 30% open, it is 60% closed/solid.)

In the US, the 2018 International Building Code (IBC) per IBC 406.5.2 requires a parking garage to have:

1. Exterior walls must have uniformly distributed openings on two or more sides.
2. The openness of the garage must be either one of the following after the screening material is applied to the garage:
   • AREA: A minimum of 20% open area per tier (level).
   • LENGTH: A minimum of 40% open perimeter on two opposing sides per tier (level).