PROJECT NAME: B&B Hostel
LOCATION: Gujan Mestras, France
PRODUCT: Ventilated Danpal® BRV 16, 1040 mm Ice, Clear Softlite, Green, Empire, 1 890 m²
ARCHITECT: Arthur Péquin, Blamm Architectes, France
CONTRACTOR: GCEB, France
DESCRIPTION OF PROJECT:
THE NEED: The guiding principle of the building is the conservation and enhancement of the landscape’s qualities around modern architecture.
THE DANPAL SOLUTION: Danpal® was used for the walls of the B&B hotel due to its ability to reflect the landscape of the pine forest in Gujan-Mestras in the Bay of Arcachon. The building is designed as a monolithic element, both in its form and through the use of a unique material to cover the walls, with as minimized land space requirements as possible. The result is a dense and vertical building that maintains the view of the pines at the back of the site. The hotel rises three floors on the north side to four on the south side, which brings the whole unit to life by creating an impression of movement. The integration of the hotel into the site is optimised by the Danpal® walls that reflect the pine forest, while their translucent nature gives the building a blurred and ambiguous look.
RESULTS: The material reacts to the slightest change in the natural light of the sky over the Bay of Arcachon, with colour effects and random reflections. The choice of colors (Green, Empire, Ice and Clear Softlite) complete the integration of the building into its forest environment. From afar, green dominates, merging into the pine landscape.
PROJECT NAME: ELSA
LOCATION: Liverpool (UK)
PRODUCT: Facade Danpal® Double 16, 1,040 mm, Ice, 1,513 m²
ARCHITECT: David Millington, BDP (UK)
CONTRACTOR: Weatherwise (UK)
DESCRIPTION OF PROJECT:
THE NEED: The triangular building of the Enterprise South Liverpool Academy (ESLA) is an educational centre that welcomes 1,100 students. Danpal’s brief was to create materials expressing the values of this place of learning.
THE DANPAL SOLUTION: A brick base represents the soundness and durability of education, upon which rests a strip of reflective aluminium, like a protective shell that surrounds the building. The strip stretches from the north entrance to the south side, where it rises to form an impressive signage before plunging and winding around the learning spaces. By contrast, right next to the school, the sports hall plays on transparency. This rectangular building, connected to the school by the aluminium strip, is covered with double skin Danpal® cladding. The Danpal® double skin system was chosen for its thermal efficiency, and the ice color for its ability to transmit light that creates a clear, white, luminous atmosphere inside the sports room. It was also chosen for the evenness it gives to the wall. Its finish and neutral color work very well with the aluminium, while contrasting with the solid base created by the black bricks.
THE RESULT: The materials chosen express the values of learning: a brick base for the durability of education, reflective aluminium acts as a protective shell, and the ice color Danpal® double skin system transmitting light to create a luminous atmosphere inside the sports room.
PROJECT NAME: Sports Complex
LOCATION: Alès, France
PRODUCT: Facade Danpatherm K7 Opal and Clear Softlite, 2,100 m²
ARCHITECT: Agence Didier Richard, France
CONTRACTOR: MCM Mériodionale de Constructions Métalliques, France
DESCRIPTION OF PROJECT:
THE NEED: The new sports complex in Alès aspires to being a functional place, serving local schools and the city’s sports associations. “Rather than a sports palace, the mayor wanted a tool for the city, with a controlled building cost”, explains Didier Richard, the project architect.
THE DANPAL SOLUTION: Two L-shaped adjacent buildings, fully covered with Softlite clear and opal Danpatherm K7 and reinforced with high protection treatment. One is a classic design and includes a handball and basketball court with a ceiling height of 7m, while the other is lower, 4m in height, and houses martial arts rooms. “We designed two transparent and bright boxes that are neutral during the day and liven up at night thanks to the strip lights, bringing out the adhesive silhouettes of players stuck on the walls”, Didier Richard explains.
THE RESULT: During the day, the walls allow sunlight to enter whatever the time, giving the space the benefit of natural light and limiting the use of artificial lighting. The walls also provide the thermal insulation necessary for this kind of building. According to Didier Richard, “about fifteen degrees is sufficient for the activities that take place in the building. It is not heated when unused and if it gets too hot, a natural ventilation system on the roof handles the extraction of warm air”.
PROJECT NAME: La Bongarde Mall
LOCATION: Villeneuve-la-Garenne, France
PRODUCT: Facade Danpal® 16 600 Clear Lilas, Softlite, 7 000 m²
ARCHITECT: Roux Ingénierie / P. Pierrou – DGLA, France
CONTRACTOR: SMAC, France
DESCRIPTION OF PROJECT:
THE NEED: A gigantic project in Villeneuve-la-Garenne boasts 250,000 m² of developed surface and 86,000 m² of leasable space along the Seine, with five floors and three parking areas, in a district calling out for renewal. The complex, triangular site is squeezed in between major thoroughfares and required powerful architecture.
THE DANPAL SOLUTION: The principle behind the project is that of a triangular mall with two crossing malls that form a window on the Seine side, and overlook the city on the other. Each wall of the mall expresses a particular relationship to the city. On the Seine side, the iridescent Danpal® wall is laid out in successive waves that overlap and are lit in pulsations. At night, the luminous lighting resembles the flowing of water.
THE RESULT: Initially designed as backlighting, the ultimate solution features outdoor LED lighting, with a light scenario that changes over time. On this side of the mall, the unique light and shape makes the wall really stand out.
PROJECT NAME: Saint Thomas Church
LOCATION: Vaulx-en-Velin, France
PRODUCT: Facade Danpal® 16 and 20, 600 mm, Clear and Ice Softlite, 850 m²
ARCHITECT: Franceenchie Cristogatin, [Siz’-ix] Architectes, France
CONTRACTOR: Franceanck Saine, France
DESCRIPTION OF PROJECT:
THE NEED: To incorporate lightness and luminosity into the new Saint-Thomas church, a place of sharing and community, while conveying the idea of renewal.
THE DANPAL SOLUTION: Inside the church, Danpal® created a luminous atmosphere through the interplay of bluish projections from a large vertical stained-glass window on the choir side and the warm tones of the printed curtain wall on the entrance side. Thermal constraints required a specific study which prompted the use of a Danpal® double skin for a long wall, bringing stability, light and increased depth.
Outside the church, the sun creates reflections on the crystal colour of the wall crisscrossed by yellow protruding cubes that form, in braille, the first word of the message of Saint Thomas: “Allons” (“Let us go”) – a universal message of hope, congregation and energy.
THE RESULT: Today, the Saint-Thomas church is home to a thriving, highly diverse community, and is filled with song, light and luminosity every Sunday.
