Based in the heart of South San Francisco, CA, which boasts a rapidly growing biotech community, stands a recently built five-story 130,000-square-foot laboratory building and a separate parking structure clad in the Florim V5 system, which utilizes visible clips and 8- x 48-inch wood-look tiles. Each floor accommodates labs, a central line of support lab space and administrative office space. The porcelain slabs are mechanically fixed to the structure of the building by means of a patented system, while the ventilation chamber creates a space between the skin of the building and its structure that improves its thermal performance and guarantees protection from water and other weather elements.

Primarily, the architect specified the V5 system for its aesthetic value, as well as durability and resistance, according to Florim Ceramiche's New York technical department manager. “We did educate them during the specification process, as well as we educated the contractor,” he said. “I personally flew to San Francisco to train them.”