Wolderhuus in Zuidwolde, formerly known as the House for Sports and Culture, is a striking multifunctional building that brings together a sports hall, library, theatre, healthcare facilities, a central meeting space with catering, and dedicated areas for young people. Architect Walter Kemperman designed a sculptural structure that feels open, encourages interaction, and blends naturally into its surroundings. Metadecor realised an eye-catching wooden slat façade for the project, which was honoured with the Construsoft BIM Award 2023 in the category 'Public Projects': House for culture and sport | Tekla.

Pine on aluminium

This project for the municipality of  The Wolden presented a less usual challenge for Metadecor: the façade features vertical MD Lamel elements made from pine wood. Rather than the regular aluminium slats, it is the wooden elements that define the building’s appearance. This choice brought some complexity for Metadecor’s engineers, planners, and technicians, who approached the task with great care and precision.

Anchorage with a wooden skin

The movement of the terrain surrounding the building is reflected in the façade. The architect designed the wooden skin to meander around the structure in an expressive form. The architecture effortlessly guides visitors to the entrance and different areas. Choosing pine was a natural decision given the green surroundings. With MD Lamel, the view from inside to outside (and vice versa!) remains unobstructed. The wooden elements seem to gently embrace the building, giving it a warm and inviting character, despite its large size. Up close, the scale of the slats feels human and tangible.

The art of smart assembly

One of the key challenges was attaching the wooden slats to aluminium frames. The slats were rarely parallel to the frame due to slight angular variations, the contact surface between wood and aluminium needed to be minimal, and the spacing between slats was inconsistent. To tackle this, we developed a laser-cut comb-shaped plate that precisely fixed each slat in position. This solution minimised wood-to-aluminium contact, allowed for angular adjustment, and ensured accurate alignment. As a result, the complexity of the installation was shifted into the plate itself, making on-site assembly far more efficient.