Disclosure: The Valspar Corporation, in conjunction with Blog Meets Brand, sponsors this post; the Architechnologist has been compensated for participation. All opinions are our own.

One of the first steps often taken when creating a smart place (home, office, theater or location) is the introduction of smart lighting, usually with the potential of shifting colors to suit different events or moods. Obviously, the lighting is only as effective as the environment and surfaces it has to reflect from – Architects and designers take great care in selecting the best possible surface treatment for these situations. Adding these color-shifting effects to exterior surfaces has been historically difficult, as selections of both the color palette and available architectural finish choice was limited.

The innovative team at Valspar has added to their “Fluropon” line of architectural coatings for use in coil or metal extrusion applications. The Effects Nova family features a gold or silver sparkle embedded into the coating and allows for nearly any color, even black, without losing the shimmer. This builds on another favorite Valspar product: Kameleon, which offers pearlescent colors that can appear to shift in color when viewed from different angles.

The Fluropon line also includes Extreme, designed to be extraordinarily resistant to wear and tear, even resisting the very different types of abrasion that occurs during transport and installation. Another new member of the family is Fluropon Pure formulated with environmental concerns in mind while not reducing durability (and offering opportunities for LEED v4 points).

For full specifications and fantastic project examples for the entire Fluropon line from Valspar, visit the “Fluropon Innovation” page (direct link).

For Architects and other specifiers, Valspar has several opportunities (even if you are not headed to the convention): visit valsparcoilextrusion.com for information on all Valspar products, AIA continuing education programs, online CEU courses and ordering color samples.

We find ourselves in a “sweet spot” that allows intelligent lighting systems to be much smarter at the same time they are more financially attractive — incredible surfaces, like Valspar’s Fluropon, that take advantage of the potential are a necessary part of the artist’s toolkit.