Fan Lee introduced a next-generation anodised aluminium cladding whose anodic oxide layer harnesses sunlight to break down pollutants and whose ultra-hydrophilic surface lets rain rinse the façade clean, keeping it bright for over 25 years with minimal maintenance.
Lee founded Anometal, a specialist in pre-treated aluminium that masters continuous anodising, running automatic continuous pre-anodising lines and, over 28 years, supplying architecture alongside solar, automotive and electronics. In the building world it has worked with firms including Ateliers Jean Nouvel, UNStudio, SOM, KPF and gmp.
He started from a familiar annoyance. Conventional anodised aluminium, once the rain stops, holds droplets that dry in the sun into grey, dirty spots. The cladding he came to present is engineered so that doesn’t happen: its anodic oxide layer is photocatalytic, it uses sunlight, via a titanium-dioxide action, to continuously break down the pollutants that settle on the surface.
The second half of the trick is water behaviour. The surface is made ultra-hydrophilic, with a water contact angle of about 8.9 degrees, so instead of beading up, water spreads into a thin sheet. That sheet lifts and carries away whatever the sunlight has loosened, and the rain or wind simply rinses it off, no droplets, no drying spots. Lee ran a live demonstration on a machine at the Anometal booth, putting a treated panel next to standard anodised aluminium: on the treated surface the water forms a clean, thin shield and runs off; on the conventional one, the tell-tale grey marks remain.
The payoff is a façade that stays cleaner for over 25 years with minimal maintenance, brighter, fresher and visually pristine year-round. And the same anodising process carries a second benefit he was keen to show: a broad, durable palette of outdoor colours, coppers, bronzes, greys and whites, that hold up on the exterior.