Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, Abu Dhabi

Aspiring to be one of the most sustainable cities in the world, Masdar City is an emerging global clean-technology cluster.
Foster + Partners has been choosen as the architect of the project.
The Masdar Institute of Science and Technology (MIST) has first been completed.

Our renders have been selected for this project because of their aesthetic, low ecological foot-print, durability and easy maintenance.

External renders

All the external renders have a sanded finish:

This brings many advantages, such as :

Very easy to apply.
Very easy to do the finishing (if any mistake is done, just sand again).
Very easy to maintain : in case of any damage, just refill and sand again to get the same finish ; in case of stains, just sand again the affected part.
Self protecting during the construction : The sanding is done just before handover, so limiting the protection that needs to be applied during the project, as any dirt, damage, ... will be removed by the final sanding

Application procedure

Our products come in bags, already pre-mixed with all the right aggregates and mass-tinted.
It just needs to be applied (with a spray machine or by hand like a regular plaster) in a single coat, directly on the block work :
The product is fed in a spray machine, and sprayed in a single coat, directly on the blocks.
On the exterior, the coat needs to be of at least 25mm. On the above example the design includes a 5mm grove, so the coat needs to be 30mm.
After plastering, the render is levelled as any standard plaster (ruling and screeding):

On the next day, the groove is carved with a router.
The walls can remain like this until a few days before the handover. Right before the project's completion, the walls are sanded with a standard sand paper.
This process avoid any excessive protection work, as the product is self protected by the top coat that is removed during final sanding:

MUP222 (dark gray), on the Library balconies.

Internal renders

For the interiors, on phase 1A, the corridors and stair cases have been rendered with a rustic white render (Z2989).
The product has been applied in a single 15mm coat, directly on the block work, with a cut finish.

On phase 1B, the finish is much smoother, with a white plaster (FS602) with some sparkles that gives a nice light.
Here the finish is a sanded finish, as the external renders.
In order to be more cost effective, a "Value Engineering" solution has been chosen. Instead of a single 13mm coat of Enduit de Montmorency, a 9mm base coat of cheaper FS Filler product has been applied, with a 4mm decorative top coat of the FS602 (Fond de Stuc).

On the plasterboards, and on the cement beams, a wire mesh is applied before plastering.
Note that with the "Fond de Stuc", the mesh is not necessary on the plaster boards.