Experiment with 3D Elements
The ultimate ambition of an architect – and the ultimate test of a building product’s design versatility – is creating something that has never been seen before.
Wienerberger’s cladding materials open up this exploratory, experimental space in which architects can redefine the possibilities of facade design. A trend seen in past projects featuring Corium brick tile cladding or SVK fibre cement facade panels has been the inclusion of three-dimensional elements or sculpture to build a truly unique facade scheme.
Here’s five international projects to serve as inspiration for how facades products can be used to create innovative and memorable architecture.
Branching Out
Against a clean canvas of white brick cladding tiles in a stack bond, Corium brick tiles in a range of bright shades and sizes were used to form this multi-dimensional tree artwork, with darker tones giving the illusion of shadow. To add further dimensionality to the piece, selected tiles protrude from the surface. Perspex brick tiles containing LED lights transform the facade when night falls.
Thanks to the Corium brick tile cladding system, brick tiles could be easily manipulated into position on the steel rail to create the desired tree design before being mortared and fixed in place.
Creating Pattern
Protruding brickwork is a relatively simple technique to achieve with Corium cladding, without the structural considerations that you would find with traditional masonry thanks to the supporting rail system.
Throughout the Cambridge Mosque’s full facade, protruding red brick tile headers were used as accents against a contrasting light buff brick tile base. These formations created Islamic patterns and words, successfully blending traditional design with a modern architectural aesthetic for an award-winning community space with its own signature look.
Embracing Geometry
Three-dimensional design elements such as raised and retreating sections can also be achieved using SVK fibre cement cladding panels.
The Cavo Zoe hotel used SVK Puro Plus fibre cement cladding panels to achieve a premium aesthetic which reflected their sleek and stylish brand identity. A 3D geometric pattern was created through triangular panels, with some protruding and set back to allow for lighting installation which makes the structure come alive at night. The addition of solid and slatted wooden panels gives the project warmth and a contemporary mixed material appeal.
Nature as a Feature
A simple concept, well executed, often has the biggest impact when it comes to rainscreen cladding design. In this case, rectangular SVK Ornimat fibre cement panels in White were stacked one of top of the other to provide a modern, clinical aesthetic for Gelderse Vallei Hospital in Ede, The Netherlands.
The intelligent 3D design work on this project comes where the orderly grid effect created by the SVK panels is disrupted by a cut-out section with curves than suggest a mountainous landscape. Within this contrasting cut-out zone, climbing greenery has been planted.
Architectural Florals
During the renovation of a wing at Westfriesgasthuis Hospital in Hoon, de Jong Gortemaker Algra Architects employed the skills of artist Tijs Rooijakkers to create a giant 3D floral sculpture for a ventilated rainscreen elevation.
Both vertically and horizontally orientated rectangular SVK Puro Plus fibre cement panels were arranged to create a lively backdrop for the flower and its floating petals. The sculpture is made of coated stainless steel which blends in beautifully with the Puro Plus panels in dry weather, but when it rains the steel shines as if the flower is in bloom.
In Conclusion
These projects demonstrate how unique facade design can be achieved through combining traditions and new trends, reshaping not just the look of a building, but people’s experience of it.
A simple building structure can be aesthetically elevated through intelligent and expressive application of architectural cladding products
To find out more about Wienerberger Facades and discover the design versatility that Corium brick tile cladding and SVK fibre cement facades have to offer, visit https://www.wienerberger.co.uk/
Looking to achieve a raw cement finish on your next facade scheme? Fibre cement cladding offers a lightweight, high performance solution.
Take a closer look at how the inclusion of three-dimensional elements or sculpture can help create a truly unique facade scheme.
