Melexis in the south of France

The Melexis company has moved into the renovated office building in Valbonne, close to Nice. The building, located in a hilly office park, received a hull renovation, in which a new façade of MD Formatura was mounted on the concrete structure.

Melexis before renovation

The design for the renovation is by Sebastian Mortelmans of Mortelmans van Tricht Architects from Antwerp. Metadecor was initially approached for a lightweight expanded metal façade. After seeing a sample of MD Formatura (pattern FO213), client developer CBRE changed tack and the entire project was 'redesigned' to aluminum panels with a 3D effect.

With the southern French light in the green surroundings, the twisted surfaces in the façade shine in the sun. The façade is abstract in design, but the 3D effect brings the material to life. A very light gray color was chosen, which stands out freshly from the surroundings, but is not blinding anywhere.

The challenge in the project was the technical implementation of the architectural design, while the amount of available information was sometimes very limited. This required a design that was as flexible as possible so that the lack of information in the preliminary phase could be accommodated during installation. The panels are designed as a loosely fitting shell around the concrete shell, while a type with a very wide adjustment range was chosen for the façade consoles. The number of types of parts has been limited to a minimum, so that the installation team could still respond flexibly to any deviations with a limited number of spare parts. The success of the design and implementation was reflected in the delivery: only one minor delivery point was identified.

Two Metadecor technicians installed the façade in a few weeks (and enjoyed the hills and sunshine in Nice). The facade elements were assembled in large format in the hall in Kampen, after which they were transported to the south. The Melexis project is par excellence a project that has been well thought out, prepared, measured and implemented from the very beginning to the last screw. A complete Metadecor package, on display in the south of France.

Metadecor took care of the drawings, engineering, production and installation of this project.