Header: Certus Brick Slip Façade System / Photo credit: ACS
The outer part of the building used to have a simple job: to keep the weather out and let the light in, but that list is getting longer. Today, roofs, storefronts and façades are also expected to improve thermal performance, meet stricter safety standards, speed up construction and do it without giving architects fewer design options. Three BLT Built Design Awards winners show what that looks like in practice.
OPTIM-R | Merik, Inc. / Kingspan Insulation North America (KINA) | Atlanta, USA
At Atlanta’s High Museum of Art, the roof replacement came with a request to bring a nearly 20-year-old roof up to modern energy standards without changing the architectural character of Richard Meier’s building. There was not enough clearance for conventional insulation thicknesses, so the upgrade had to perform better without becoming bigger.
OPTIM-R uses vacuum insulated panels to deliver the required thermal performance in a much thinner build-up. The lightweight system could be installed around existing rooftop conditions without costly structural changes or visual disruption, helping preserve the museum’s form while improving energy performance. Here, the smartest product move is the one visitors are never meant to notice.
YES 60 TU Front Set Storefront | YKK AP America, Inc. | United States
Architects want storefront systems to give them the cleaner, glass-forward appearance of a curtain wall, while developers still expect storefront economics and straightforward installation. YES 60 TU Front Set Storefront was developed around that gap.
The six-inch front-set system places glass at the front for the curtain wall-like look, while new mullion clips increase strength for taller spans and thermally improved details at the sill flashing and T-door jambs support better performance. Consolidated profiles and simplified system details also reduce some of the complexity during fabrication and installation. In other words, the façade can look lighter without asking the rest of the project to work harder.
View YES 60 TU Front Set Storefront
Certus Brick Slip Façade System | ACS Stainless Steel Fixings Ltd | Leeds, England
Certus starts with a familiar façade material and changes almost everything behind it. Developed after Grenfell with input from contractors, architects and regulators, the system uses mechanically fixed clay brick slips on high-grade stainless steel rather than adhesives, achieving A1 non-combustibility and a 60-year design life.
Factory-finished panels, including corners, reveals, soffits and features, are cut on site, reducing cutting, pointing and waste while allowing smaller installation teams. On one project, façade delivery fell from 42 to 25 weeks. The result still reads as brick architecture, but the system behind it is designed around today’s expectations for safety, durability and construction speed.
View Certus Brick Slip Façade System
The clever part is hiding behind the surface
These three products solve very different problems, but share the same idea: a better building envelope should give architects more performance without demanding more compromise. That is also what makes Construction Product Design an important part of the BLT Built Design Awards. Products are judged on innovation, functionality, durability, impact, integration and ecological compatibility, then presented to the same international architecture and design audience they are ultimately made for. Winners are included in BLT media campaigns, featured in the newsletter sent to more than 100,000 design professionals and receive year-round visibility in the BLT online directory.
The 2026 BLT Built Design Awards are open for entries across Architectural Design, Interior Design, Landscape Architecture and Construction Product Design. If your product is solving a problem architects, specifiers, or contractors should no longer have to accept, submit your project before October 4.
