Thermal break windows respectful of the architectural style

The more than 70 windows and doors of a 1950s manor in Marsaxlokk (Malta) were replaced. Instead of the old wooden windows and shutters, the EKU 66TT HPS systems for thermal break windows were used and EKU 40 for aluminium shutters. Engineer Veronica Fiore who was in charge of the project underlines the precision and care given in respecting the architectural aesthetics of the building.

Malta stone, a light-coloured limestone similar to that of Puglia, is considered the local ‘marble’. It is an ideal material for the building of manors, public buildings, roads, etc. as it maintains buildings cool in the summer and retains heat internally in the winter months.

“The owner of a 1950s manor in Marsaxlokk (Malta), built out of this particular stone, had decided to replace all the windows and doors,” says Eng. Veronica Fiore of the company Metalfiore Srl, “asking that the particular architectural style be respected”.

The manor, of about 1,000 square metres distributed on three floors, had a total of 73 windows and doors. The windows and French windows, with white wooden frames and a single glass pane, were completely ruined, as well as inadequate in terms of thermal performance. The external shutters, instead were made of green wooden fixed slats.

Renovation respecting a classic style

The EKU 66TT HPS system, for high-performance thermal break windows, was chosen for the new windows and French windows. “It is a system that we frequently use because of its constructive simplicity and because we consider it a technically very valid system” explains Veronica Fiore.

“In this case it was chosen for its linear and elegant design. We have tried to respect as much as possible the classic style of the replaced windows. We kept the number of wings, but increased the luminosity by eliminating the upper crosspiece and the lower blind cleft of the French windows.

We also chose aesthetically appropriate accessories, for example for the windows and French windows, a thin and narrow handle was mounted, similiar to the design of traditional iron handles”.

The shutters were made with the EKU 40 system. “We have kept fixed slats with the same design as the previous ones. For the opening mechanism, a normal handle was not used, but a bayonet one, to always respect the historical characteristics of the building”.

The new frames all had an electro-black finishing, “the use of the colour black was a precise request of the owner of the manor, accordingly we recommended the electro-colour finishing as the manor is very exposed to sunlight, the electro-colour in fact lasts longer over time than normal paint finishing which tends to lose its colour more easily”.

The careful removal of the old frames to carry out a precise installation

“It was the first time that we were faced with this type of wall and it was difficult to remove the old windows because the surrounding stone tended to crumble.

However, after some intial difficulties, we were able to resolve the problem, after all, our company has more than 40 years of experience in this field.

Once the wall was prepared, the mounting of the new windows was simple. Obviously we adopted all the procedures and solutions necessary to achieve an ideal installation, maintaining, as I said before, the same opening mechanisms.

The windows have mainly four wings, all of which can be opened, the two internal ones open onto the external ones and together they open onto the wall, two on the right and two on the left.

It seemed to us the best type of opening, the only one that could exploit the use of all the available space. I would have preferred a two-wing solution with a larger glazed area, but the client insisted on keeping the number of wings of the old windows.

Moreover, for the shutters, in some places, it was necessary to use overlapping hinges, so that the shutter doors could be opened further away from the frame and lean against the external wall”.

Project summary