Shiny projects
In 2017, the young architectural firm Space Encounters was given the opportunity to design eight plots in the first phase of the Wisselspoor project in Utrecht. Gijs Baks, architect and co-founder of Space Encounters, explains how they “tried to push the limits of the master plan” with bespoke aluminium facades. “A bit of rebellion”, he chuckles. Metadecor co-engineered the facades for two blocks of single-family houses in this new residential area.
Commissioned by project developer Synchroon and within the master plan by architecture firm Studioninedots and Delva Landscape Architecture | Urbanism, architectural firm Space Encounters designed a series of houses – eight plots in total - as the winners of The Next Step Award that was organised by the branch organisation BNA in 2017. The young architects aimed for “surprise and amazement” for the facades of 'their' plots but were required to stay within the structure of the master plan. Architect Gijs Baks worked with Metadecor on behalf of Space Encounters for the plots that were to be fitted with an aluminium facade.
“I have indeed called them our ‘shiny projects’,” Gijs laughs. He refers to a series of photos he posted on social media after recently taking a bike ride through the Wisselspoor project area. “They really stand out: the aluminium surfaces shine between the brickwork and the tiled facades,” he enthuses. Of the eight plots Space Encounters was allowed to fill in the first phase of Wisselspoor, two blocks of houses were given aluminium skins. "Aluminium was not in the master plan – with our design choices we investigated and pushed the limits of the plan. All in clear communication with the supervisor, of course," Gijs states. And as the winner of a prize for young architects, Space Encounters rightfully assumed they were allowed their bit of rebellion.
"Aluminium was not in the master plan - we pushed the boundaries"
Connection
For all dwellings and plots assigned to them, the architects had one important starting point for the architecture: the connection of the (inside) living space with the (outside) public space. The architect: "The architecture of the facades derives from our ambition to create social cohesion on different levels, starting at street level. We created large windows in the front facades to make that connection and allowed the residents to place their kitchen at the front or at the back of the ground floor area."
The architects chose tiles, bricks and aluminium for the facades of their plots. “To convince the developer and supervisor of our ideas to make an aluminium facade, we visited a previous project of ours with a robust corrugated iron façade: Rebel House. They liked it and that gave us a green light for the Wisselspoor facades." The engineers of Metadecor worked with Gijs and his team on the design and details of two plots: a facade with (partly mirroring) flat sheet elements and a row of three residential houses with concave facades made of corrugated aluminium sheets. Both designs have a - literal - twist.
"It is a flat facade that is not flat. Beautifully made."
Mirroring and concave
On one plot, the facade of two adjacent houses is clad with MD Flack. The window frames show a special feature: by placing the frames at an angle, a deep jamb was created on one side of the window. This jamb is covered with shiny - mirroring - stainless steel. "The result is beautiful!" states Gijs enthusiastically. "It is a flat facade that is not flat. Walking through the street, the experience of the space is different, because of that mirror. It surprises, it connects."
Three adjacent houses on another plot were given a full-height, full-width concave facade. "The concave facade embraces the public space: it connects the house and the street," the architect states. With its industrial aluminium skin, the design of this trio of houses also connects with that of the car park opposite the street. The parking garage is clad with a curtain of concave waves made of expanded metal (see also the Wisselspoor Car Park project on Metadecor's website). “It’s not a deliberate reference," Gijs confesses. "We wanted to make the facades of these terraced houses sturdy and robust, to counter the surrounding projects that are somewhat larger in scale.”
The arguments for Space Encounters to use aluminium and this concave may be different, and the similarities in the design are more coincidental than deliberate, but it gives this new neighbourhood an interesting cohesion. It must be said: the aluminium certainly stands out in this first phase of Wisselspoor, both with the residential projects and the parking garage. It stands out in a shiny and – looking at form and detailing - surprising way.
In the clouds
It’s a view we enjoy every day from Metadecor’s headquarters in Kampen: the beautiful cloudscapes of Overijssel, The Netherlands. Artist Jacob Voerman senior captured these exact views in his oil paintings, more than a century ago. The Kampen-born painter was inspired by the vistas around the river IJssel and brought his fascinations to life in his work, of which the ones with beautiful skies became the most famous. At Metadecor we make facades. And with our own headquarters, we have done what Voerman did: pay a tribute to both the landscape and fine art.
Metadecor’s headquarter is located on the banks of the river IJssel, at the base of the Eilandbrug, It is a somewhat abstract square volume, the place where the most beautiful facades are assembled each day and where we work with local, national and international architects and consultants every day. When the plans for this building were drawn, we knew we wanted to do something special with the façade. Together with the architect of the building NVDTA and artist Chris Kabel we created a bespoke pattern for the western – and most eyecatching - façade of our own building.
The story of Metadecor starts with facades made of expanded metal: three-dimensional, lightweight and with different degrees of transparency and light transmission. Expanded metal has structure and depth, it is a tactile material for any façade. But making patterns with it is quite a challenge. MD Designperforation was introduced: with digitized production methods any pattern is possible. But in the end, the panel remains flat.
MD Formatura was born from the idea of making panels that both have a pattern and an extra dimension, a certain depth. In a patterned perforated panel, parts of the perforation are rotated to create texture and an extra dimension to the pattern. Daylight reflects in different angles and casts shadows. After sunset, the light from within the building lights the façade up like a lantern.
Telling stories
Let’s go back to Jacob Voerman senior. With his paintings, the artist not only wanted to show his love for the landscape an cloudscapes, he also told stories. Every detail, every patch of colour had a meaning. It is a strategy that resonates with Metadecor and the façade we co-create, produce and install. Like a painting, architecture should tell the story of time, location, function and context. That is why we linked – quite literally – Voerman’s artwork to our building. We developed a pattern based on the painting ‘IJsselgezicht’ and translated that to façade elements in MD Formatura. The clouds in Voerman’s painting were converted to pixels, the rotation of the small elements following the shapes and colours in the artwork. We optimized the façade to meet the functional demands, such as sun reflection and (direct – indirect) daylight penetration.
Like many other facades we create, the facade of our headquarters plays a significant role in the energy management of the building. An extra layer of static (or dynamic) sun shading will make the building more energy efficient and often reduces or even obliterates the need for interior shading. The design process of MD Formatura allows for simulations and calculations of transparency, sun penetration and heat load on the glass façade during different times of the day and in every season to optimize each panel. Second skins with MD Formatura also shield the glass façade from wind, rain and dust.
Tribute to the landscape
With graphic artist Chris Kabel – who has designed many patterns and reliefs for Metadecor – we translated Jacob Voerman’s ‘IJsselgezicht’ into our own artwork on the banks of the IJssel. With the instalment of the MD Formatura façade on our headquarters, the sun not only shines on the surface of the river, but on the different fragments of our façade as well. This façade might be a showcase for our products, but it also reminds us of something that is also shown in Voerman’s paintings: that it is a privilege to be in this place, to enjoy the beauty of the landscape. Furthermore, the façade allows us to enjoy architecture on a daily basis and celebrate the role it plays in our lives. And that is why the people at Metadecor are – literally – every day with their heads in the clouds, working together enthusiastically on remarkable facades.
Parking garage Wisselspoor Utrecht:
Draped like a curtain
Architect Wouter Hermanns of Amsterdam-based architecture firm Studioninedots describes the development of the facade of the Wisselspoor Utrecht car park as ‘an exceptional process, a joint search for the best solution’. The architects’ idea to clad the parking tower with a wavy curtain of MD Expanded Metal turned out to be an exploration of the limits of the capricious material.
Studioninedots drew up the masterplan for the Wisselspoor area development in Utrecht together with Delva Landscape. Within this masterplan, the former railroad workshop Werkplaats Wisselspoor remained as a monument to the area's original function. Wouter Hermanns, architect at Studioninedots: ‘Buildings like the former workshop define the character of the area. You want to preserve that.’
Transformation of the industrial building did not prove easy. Wouter: ‘It is a very large building that needed a function and meaning within a context with small houses. The volume was too big for the public programme on that particular part of the site – a place for cultural activities in the neighbourhood. But the building was just too beautiful to demolish.’ The architects found a purpose for the building within the urban masterplan. ‘A parking garage in the middle of the area is a very logical intervention to minimise the number of cars on the street.’
Changing contrasts
‘We wanted to give the car park a special appearance, something alienating within this new living area - like a beacon in the neighbourhood,’ says the architect. ‘We drew a “curtain” around the parking tower in the heart of the building, which created a contrast in the overall image: an enrichment of the existing building with a new addition in a new language.’
The architects looked for a material to make that curtain and to achieve the desired effect and decided on expanded metal. ‘We looked at texture, at transparency and patterns. We studied variations where the curtain was tight at the top and flared at the bottom. That scenario turned out to be a bit too ambitious for a car park budget. In the end, we drew an irregularly waved curtain made of expanded metal. The next step was finding companies that could make it.’
Concave waves
The architectural firm came into contact with Metadecor through the contractor. ‘The design process was complicated: drawing details, finding the right curvature of the panels, experimenting with bending and folding expanded metal’, Wouter recalls. A total of three mock-ups were made to find the right curves for the panels. ‘When you look at the facade now, you see concave shapes with three different diameters. We had another, smaller element. But the curvature was too angular – did not look great – so we decided against it,’ explains the architect.
Crucial to the flowing appearance was the detail of the connection between the elements. ‘The credits for this detail go to Metadecor. We experimented with folding and setting. The chosen solution, an extruded profile with a rounded strip to which the expanded metal connects, gives the right subtlety.’ For the detail-lovers in our audience: at the entrance to the car park, this detail is visible in cross-section.
Rich colours and shades
The curtain of MD Expanded Metals extrudes sturdily out of the monumental industrial building. The aluminium was anodised, providing an intense experience of the metal. ‘The material has a rich hue in full sunlight; due to the reflections, you can see different colours and patterns in the metal surface at every position of the sun,’ Wouter explains enthusiastically.
Combined with the colourful new residential buildings around it, the Werkplaats Wisselspoor and its metal clad parking garage gives the site an atmosphere that is pleasant for the pioneers of this new residential area.
