Applications
Building types the system is used for
Guardian's material names two broad markets — residential, new and upgraded, and commercial and industrial. Each page below takes one building type within them, sets out what matters in it, and links the projects that prove it. For the market case itself — affordability, productivity and why panelised construction — see Market.
Single-family homes
Affordable single-family housing and innovative custom homes are the two residential markets Guardian's material names first.
3 projectsMultifamily and apartments
Repetition is what panelization is best at, and an apartment building is repetition. Demising walls, fire separation and sound between units are the specification questions.
3 projectsHotels and hospitality
Hotels combine repetition, a hard opening date and guests who notice noise and drafts. All three favour a factory-made envelope.
2 projectsSenior living and memory care
Comfort, air quality and quiet are clinical concerns in a care setting, not amenities. A stable, tight, well-insulated envelope contributes to all three.
1 projectVeterans and transitional housing
Transitional and supportive housing is often built on the sites nobody else wanted, to budgets that leave no room for waste. Two of Guardian's projects are exactly that.
2 projectsGovernment and federal facilities
Public buildings are judged on operating cost over decades and increasingly on an energy standard. Guardian's clearest documented saving comes from a federal facility.
4 projectsEducation and student housing
Student housing repeats, has an immovable deadline in the academic calendar, and is owned long-term by an institution that pays the utility bill.
1 projectIndustrial and maintenance buildings
Large, simple, hard-working buildings are where a light, fast, well-insulated envelope earns its keep, especially at altitude or in a harsh climate.
2 projectsRetail and commercial
In a leased building the landlord builds the envelope and the tenant pays to run it. An efficient shell leases faster and holds its tenants.
2 projectsAccessory dwelling units
An ADU is a small building on a constrained site next to somebody's house. Speed, quiet erection and a shell that needs no crane all matter more than they would on an open lot.
2 projectsCold storage and controlled environment agriculture
Guardian names food production and cold storage facilities, and controlled environment agriculture, among its commercial and industrial markets.
Talk to us about your project
Tell us what you are building. We design and produce the envelope to your exact drawings, residential or commercial.