Finding the harmony within the animal.

On one hand, the integral nature of the state-protected building of the Academy and its moderate and reserved style, volumetric harmony and moderate colours that have been popular in the 1930’s, required the project’s architects to create a structure not disrupting the harmony of the ensemble. On the other hand, the specific purpose of the complex invoked was to look for visual interfaces to the animal world, to escape from straight lines and rectangular forms, and to look for expression close to a living body of a creature.

Opposites attract.

This in particular induced the choice of clay roof tiles Pottelberg 301 with different colours and gloss. They ideally suited for the objective of making a living scaly body. The contrast principle has justified the expectations, and the new wing did not significantly disrupt the principles of composition of the ensemble and did not clear away the identification criteria of a historical period, but clearly showed us who, when and by what means and materials the ensemble has been built. The Veterinary complex is dominated with park style lighting, and only some of the buildings have sparing illumination at the entrance to the buildings. Following the same principle of contrast, the illumination solution was completely different this time – special ventilation ceramic tiles with integrated LEDs. This type of illumination provides particular shine at night, and imparts even more features of a living and moving body to the building.

It began with an initiative from the District Committee of the King Baudoin Foundation for a project entitled “Leefwijk” (liveable district). Together with this foundation, the district committee, the municipality of Anderlecht and other partners, Espaces- Mobilites conducted an extensive survey of the residents in this district. “It very quickly became obvious that we needed to retain and even enhance the garden district character of the area. This was clearly reinforced by the opinions of the residents of the district,” recounts Cecile Dumont, director of the bike zone project at Espaces-Mobilites. “Surveys of the district committee and local schools revealed that pedestrians and cyclists needed to be granted more space in relation to the heavy local and through traffic. Safety and community spirit were primary considerations.”

Results of a survey

Cecile Dumont went on: “We were able to filter out a few important guidelines from the variety of wishes expressed by the local population: The ambiguous character of the square around St. Joseph‘s Church needed to be defined more clearly. The square was assigned the function of a common meeting place with an area for the local market, the fair and a play area, which included sufficiently large green spaces. In addition, the desire was expressed to make intersections and pedestrian crossings safer, lower the speed of traffic with speed bumps and promote pedestrian and bicycle traffic. Further to this, people wanted sufficient lighting for the church and square.”

The project takes space

The final plan envisioned a complete redesign all the way from the houses on one side of the space to those on the other. A new traffic system was developed, with vehicles banned around the edge of the square, confined to the main thoroughfare running through the middle. A residential street was created on one side of the plaza while the church square itself was provided with removable posts that allow market merchants access when needed. A triangular lawn was added with chestnut trees planted around the edge of the space while a fenced-off playground was also created with small green spaces, benches and dog area. The entire project covered an area of 7,000 m2.

The importance of using the right materials

A mixture of paving bricks, porphyry and cement bricks were used to create the surface. Wienerberger’s Terca Oud Hollands – Oud Rotterdam were specified with 3,500 m2 laid, interrupted by strips of blue granite. “This was the largest project we have done so far with paving bricks,” said Cecile Dumont. “Apart from their durability and colourfastness, we chose these pavers because of their authenticity. They harmonise perfectly with the surrounding houses and church. In addition, the pavers reinforce the garden atmosphere of the project and provide secure footing for pedestrians even in poor weather.” By renovating the bicycle zone, Espaces-Mobilites impressively demonstrated that materials with an old, authentic look can be successfully incorporated in forward-looking urban rejuvenation projects.

http://www.dach-holz.de/

Historicised façade.

Where the office building “Zum Schönen Turm” once stood is today the head office of well-known gentlemen’s outfitters Hirmer. Large parts of the building from the post-war period were torn down in 2007/2008 and rebuilt with a historicising facade, which resembles the original building, while satisfying the requirements of a modern store. The building was completely enclosed in winter 2008/2009 and the facade and roofing work carried out. For the 1,500 square metre roof, Wienerberger delivered 1.4 cm thick beaver tiles with lobster-back construction measuring 18 x 38 centimetres.

Complex detailing.

One special architectural feature of the renowned store is its rounded corner, which continues in an equally rounded hip on the roof. While this detail may initially appear unspectacular, a rounded hip actually represents a considerable technical level of complexity.

Aesthetic technique.

What is special about a roof covered with beaver tiles is that the minimum overlap
of the tiles depends on the pitch of the roof. The lower the pitch, the greater the overlap must be in order to
ensure that a beaver tile roof is watertight. In Munich, the rounded part of the roof around the hip was
particularly difficult: the area in question has a lower pitch than the main roof and must therefore have a
correspondingly higher overlap. Because the rows of tiles to the left and right of the rounding flow into and
over each other at the same batten height, the higher overlaps from the rounding would usually have to be
adopted by the steeper roof sections as well. The unnecessarily large overlaps this would have caused
in the steep parts of the roof would have made the roofing work more expensive. The final solution was to overlap the main roof surfaces slightly more than necessary. At the hip rounding, some rows of tiles were added into the eaves in order to achieve a higher overlap there. As a result, the tiles running around the eaves are raised slightly, giving a look and aesthetic reminiscent of an eyebrow dormer. This allowed efficiency and aesthetics to be harmoniously combined in this technically demanding roof.