Architect：BLAF architecten

Location：Oud-Strijderslaan 25, 9160 Lokeren, Belgium; | ;

Category：Apartments

The exterior facade of the tallest residential building in Lokeren  (Belgium) has been radically renovated. The characteristic grey concrete facade is now clad with Euroclass A2 Rockpanel Metals facade boards. These cladding boards do not only offer optimum fire safety, but also give the apartment building a special appearance. A special metallic gloss coating ensures that the building looks differently from every angle. 

is located on the main access road to the town. The 12-storey-high building is clearly visible from afar. “This is a well-known building not only for people entering Lokeren, but this building also determines the view from many other locations here,” says Bart Vanden Driessche, manager of BLAF architects, which is located in the same town. The architect therefore knew the building well. The old and grey concrete facade was anything but a nice calling card. “When we got the assignment to create a new insulated facade for this building, we immediately knew that this was a great opportunity to make the building not only more sustainable and energy efficient, but also more lively and modern.” 

For the new facade, Vanden Driessche and his team had some specific wishes. It was clear from the beginning that facade cladding would be the best option for the existing construction. “In addition, we wanted a material that would look different depending on the time of day you pass by and the angle you view it from. The building is passed and viewed by thousands of people every day from different points. What could be better than creating a lively facade that gives a different picture from every perspective?”

The architects found everything they were looking for in a facade material in Rockpanel Premium Metals facade boards. They were produced to perfectly fit the customer's wishes. Due to the special metallic gloss coating, the building looks white from a great distance, while the facade turns blue in grey weather and almost appears green in good weather. This changing colour effect is enhanced by placing white “fins” over the entire height of the building. These vertically placed aluminium tubular profiles protrude about 10 centimetres from the facade. Vanden Driessche: “If you approach the building obliquely, these fins give the facade extra rhythm. Sometimes the building seems more closed, and sometimes it looks very open. Combined, the facade boards and the fins ensure that there is a lot of life, colour and variety in the facade on a very prominent building." 

Project architect David Leune of BLAF explains that they initially chose Rockpanel products because of their sustainability. “The boards are made of stone wool from basalt, a volcanic rock that is abundant in nature. The boards can be recycled infinitely, without loss of quality and are therefore perfect for circular construction. That perfectly fits the vision that we have as an architectural firm, and the client's wishes. In addition, it is also an elegant boards material, with a wide range of designs and colours. A strong combination of sustainability and design freedom.” 

Due to the height of the building and the residential use, fire safety was also a very important condition, adds Jeroen Verdonck of contractor Francovera. “The Rockpanel Premium A2 11 mm thick facade boards that we have chosen can be classified as non-combustible in accordance with national building regulations. Together with the ROCKWOOL facade insulation also used here, the facade achieves European fire class A2-s1,d0, which makes this an ideal combination for high-rise buildings." 

The Rockpanel cladding is installed on an aluminium sub-structure. Small rivets in a matching RAL colour were used, making the fixings virtually invisible. Pieter den Haese of installation partner Tectum Groep is very pleased with the choice for Rockpanel facade boards. “In practice, when renovating a building of this size, you always run into surprises. This building, for example, has many connections, and an existing facade that turned out to be far from straight. The architect's design, on the other hand, is very sleek,with beautiful horizontal and vertical lines. We needed to prepare the installation well. With such a challenging project, it is nice if the facade boards are easy to process and mount. We like to work with Rockpanel products because these boards are lightweight and can be processed without special equipment. For example, you can easily saw them to size with traditional sawing tools. Once the lines have been laid out, mounting the facade panels was a simple job.” 

“We are very proud of our contribution to this facade renovation”, Vanden Driessche says with a smile. “The new facade will ensure that the energy bill for the tenants is considerably lower. And thanks to the Rockpanel Metals facade boards, we have transformed this grey colossus into a lively and modern residential building that has a positive impact on the entire skyline of Lokeren.” 

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