Designing an envelope for high wind
Wind design is about pressure on surfaces and the continuity of the load path from the cladding all the way to the foundation. The strictest US category is the high-velocity hurricane zone.
Pressure, not just speed
A design wind speed becomes a pressure on each surface, and the pressure is not uniform: corners, edges and eaves see far more than the middle of a wall. That is why fastening schedules tighten at the perimeter.
Envelope components are checked for both positive pressure pushing in and negative pressure pulling out. Suction on a roof is usually the harder case.
The load path
Wind is resisted by a continuous chain: cladding to panel, panel to structure, structure to foundation. A chain is only as strong as its weakest connection, which in practice is usually a fastener or an anchor rather than a member.
Panelised construction helps here because the connections are engineered and repeated rather than improvised on site.
High-velocity hurricane zones
Parts of South Florida apply the strictest wind provisions in the United States, with product approval requirements on top of the structural calculation. A system used there has to be designed for it explicitly.
What Guardian publishes
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Standard 9 ft walls have a design wind load of up to 40 psf, and the system can be engineered to wall heights of up to 20 ft at the same design wind load.
Source · 3-Part Specification 1.5 E.1
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Guardian states the system can be designed to meet the code requirements for high-velocity hurricane zones.
Source · 3-Part Specification 1.6 B.3
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Guardian's market material states wind resistance engineered up to 185 mph.
Source · Market page, enhanced durability
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The Jumby Bay Island Corp. headquarters in Antigua survived Hurricane Irma, a Category 5, without damage to the building.
Source · Jumby Bay Island Corp. Headquarters case study
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Written by Data Subsystems, for Guardian Structural Technologies. Last updated .
Drafted from Guardian Structural product literature and published building-science sources. Awaiting Guardian technical review. Confirm any figure against the current product documents or ask us before you rely on it in a design.