For more than ninety years, Ter Hoeven Verf has been a trusted name in the provinces North Holland, Overijssel and Gelderland. Founded in 1929, this family business has grown into a strong paint group with multiple branches. For their main location in Apeldoorn, the wish emerged to create a building that would visibly reflect their identity: recognisable, powerful and future-oriented.

Where black is the signature colour for COURAGE, the distinctive red plays the same role for Ter Hoeven. The client’s ambition was therefore clear from the outset: “We want a striking façade.” This became the foundation for a design in which identity, technology and appearance come together.

A building that opens itself to its surroundings

The new building consists of two parts:
– a transparent volume containing the shop and office space facing the street,
– an existing warehouse being reused as storage and demonstration space.
This positioning places the shop clearly in view of passers-by, while logistics and parking are deliberately kept to the side. The result is a calm and defined frontage that reinforces the Ter Hoeven brand.

The COURAGE design: more than just a façade

COURAGE took Ter Hoeven’s ambition as its starting point and developed a complete concept. Not only a new façade, but an architectural composition in which transparency and perforated aluminium complement each other. The owners, closely involved throughout, were taken to the showroom to experience materials, perforations and colour variations firsthand.

The client had asked for a striking façade, and the design proposal from COURAGE exceeded expectations: the combination of a traffic-red façade skin with a transparent volume behind it gave the building a stronger and more expressive presence than initially imagined.
The design process followed a clear sequence: a proposal to integrate the logo into the façade, various sample panels, and a full-scale mock-up to test the effect of the perforations and gloss level. The façade evolved from concept to true identity.

Façade expression: identity in perforation

For the façade rim, Metadecor, in collaboration with COURAGE, developed a unique MD Formatura pattern based on type F0223. The panels are powder-coated in traffic red with a 70% gloss finish (class 3).
In addition, MD Flack was used on other parts of the façade, also in traffic red, creating one consistent visual language.

The combination of Formatura’s openness and Flack’s flatness creates a layered appearance: from a distance, a powerful red volume; up close, a refined play of perforations subtly referencing the logo.

Construction and fixing

For the installation, the following choices were made:
– a colour-matched aluminium substructure for the MD Formatura panels,
– and steel profiles for fixing the MD Flack panels.
MD Flack is mounted on steel profiles placed on the solid façade sections. This keeps the transparent parts completely free and ensures clean, precise transitions between materials.

Light and spatial experience

Behind the perforated screens sits a full-height glazed wall, allowing filtered daylight to enter the building. Inside, this creates a calmer lighting environment and gives the interior a soft, warm glow.
A patio between the volumes brings daylight even deeper into the building. The elevated meeting room—its distinctive “hat”—offers extensive views and forms a visible marker above the façade rim.

Collaboration and construction

Collaboration between the architect, Metadecor and the construction partners was smooth and transparent. Clear design intentions, technical coordination and sample mock-ups ensured that all decisions were already well-prepared by the execution phase.

Construction began in mid-2025, and the façade is gradually taking on its definitive form.