Mystical sculptures: Residential tower in Breda (NL) Röben clinker

Transcription

EXEMPLUM 22
Mystical sculptures: Residential tower in Breda (NL)
Röben clinker brick FARO black-nuanced, smooth,
BRICK-DESIGN ®, special sort
EXEMPLUM 22
Dear Readers!
A study suggests that bricks
are the most popular constructions materials among architects and construction companies, even the “construction
material of the future”. As
brick manufacturers, we have
self-evidently always been
convinced of this; but the increasing prevalence in media
coverage on architecture mirrors the consistently positive
appreciation of this fundamentally honest construction
material.
Another reason for the popularity of bricks is their wideranging versatility. The smallest
components in sometimes
overwhelmingly huge façades,
they retain a reserve to the
benefit of their effect. But
their very individual class is immediately clear in single-family
homes, where owners need
only to reach out and touch.
In this latest issue of our
EXEMPLUM, we once more
document the wide range of
possible uses for this likeable
jack-of-all-trades. We see huge
office towers next to small residential dwellings, elaborately
detailed façades opposite
unfussy pragmatism. And
the clinker brick always looks
great. More than ever before,
architects are succeeding in
introducing their own perceptions of 'perfect clinker brick'
in their designs. In Brick-Design®, Röben offers you the
platform for experiments and
individual developments. In
this issue, we have marked
properties created using this
kind of clinker brick with the
small red Brick-Design® logo.
Again in 2014, the results of
outstanding work with bricks,
this beautiful construction
material, will be rewarded with
the Fritz Höger Prize for Brick
Architecture, now considered
the most important international architecture prize from
Germany. If you also use clinker brick, we would like to
encourage you most certainly
to take part in this competition. Please find additional information later on in this issue.
But first of all I wish you an interesting read leafing through
our latest EXEMPLUM.
With kind regards
faithfully,
Wilhelm-Renke Röben
3
Contents
22
EXEMPLUM
Classic clinker brick façade –
office building in Münster
Striking cube –
office building in Triesen (FL)
Deep and lively texture –
institute building for the University Centre vonRoll in Bern (CH)
Page
Page
Page
6
48
66
Elegant lady –
office complex in Gent (B)
A light touch of modernism –
residential building in Raleigh (USA)
Modern language of forms –
city villas in Berlin
Diamonds are the name of the game –
school cafeteria in Frankfurt/Main
Page
Page
Page
Page
12
28
54
72
A fresh look –
residential complex in Möhlin-Aeschemerbündte (CH)
A symbiosis of creativeness and engineering –
residential superstructure in Brunnmatt-East, Bern (CH)
Mystical sculptures –
residential houses in Breda (NL)
A glance across the water –
residential building in Amsterdam (NL)
Page
Page
Page
Page
20
34
58
78
EXEMPLUMarchive
Page
84
BRICK DESIGN® by Röben
Making of: croc brick
Page
88
Red Dot Award for the BRICK-DESIGN® campaign
Page
Living and working –
residential and office building in Hamburg
Prima Colonia –
two city villas in Cologne
Page
Page
24
42
The Fritz Höger Prize For Brick Architecture
Page
92
Legal notice
Page
4
90
93
5
Classic clinker brick
façade
OFFICE BUILDING
The merchandise information system com-
ted at bringing together previously remote
office design, state of the art work sequen-
IN MÜNSTER
pany GWS has set its sights firmly on expan-
branches, uniting them under one roof. The
cing and most recent appreciation of ergo-
sion. And so the organisation has decided
organisation remained true to its Münster
nomics and room acoustic concepts. Pre-
to construct new corporate headquarters
site, moving just a few kilometres to the
stressed concrete ceilings in the individual
Röben hand-finished facing brick
to underline this commitment to customers
Loddenheide commercial estate. Spread
storeys permitted individual room layout.
WIESMOOR coal variegated
and to create an ideal working environ-
over a 8,200 m² plot, a modern building was
The total floor space is 6,500 m².
ment for its employees. This plan is targe-
constructed, incorporating latest insight into
6
7
The recessed rows of windows
were enclosed in masonry
bands. Every fourth row of
stones protrudes approximately
2 cm from the façade; eight
of these rows each form a
window-high, circumferential
band, providing an elegantly
mellow touch to the strict
geometric architecture.
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9
Completed in just
one year
The Dortmund-based construction company Derwald GmbH
& Co. KG is the principal, investing roughly 10 million in the
building, completed in a mere
12 months of construction.
The distinguished, U-shaped
structure faces a lake and a
park. The building was set back
from the line of other structures
in order to create space for a
forecourt.
This enabled the construction
of parking spaces directly in
front of the entrance and the
meeting rooms, so that customers are not asked to overcome
unnecessarily long distances.
The architects Landheer, Münster, designed the building as a
four-storey, prefab construction
made of reinforced concrete.
Accommodating seminar facilities and function rooms, the
fifth level was created in the
south wing as a rooftop superstructure, which lends the entire
complex a light touch.
windows, in which every fourth
row of bricks protrudes 2 cm
out of the surface. This creates
window strips that lend the
façade a clear structure.
Brick veneers around the
roof terrace
Although the lion's share of
the outside walls was erected
traditionally, the architects decided to use prefab components
with brick veneer panelling for
the circumferential strips on the
roof terrace and the stacked
storey façade.
GWS has set its sights not just
on expansion, but also on being
a good neighbour. So the cafeteria is open to employees from
buildings located next door, and
not just to the company's own
staff.
Skilfully mellowed façade
The supporting concrete shell
was enclosed within brick masonry. The red clinker brick was
specified in the B-plan, and the
architects were only too glad
to comply. Several shades of
dark red brick from a series of
manufacturers were reviewed.
The final selection was made on
the basis of various criteria and
a more stringent optical examination of a large sample wall;
and the choice was WIESMOOR
coal-variegated DF by Röben.
Office building
in Münster
Planning:
Landheer Architects
Münster
The extremely long façade was
skilfully given a more mellow
look. The blue-red masonry
with its rustic, light jointing
contrasts with the black of the
high, recessed metal windows
wrapping themselves around
the building. A row of strip tiles
runs along the height of the
Photos:
Michael Dedeke,
Münster
Röben hand-moulded facing brick
WIESMOOR coal variegated
Water absorption approx. 7.0 %
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Photo: Poponcini & Lootens
“It was our objective to achieve varying
Mauro Poponcini und Patrick Lootens
surface structures and a whole range of different
reflections and gloss levels, all at the same time.”
“Based on the sizeable height of the
two high-rise building slices of 90 m
and the tightly scheduled construction period, we decided to erect
the façades using prefab sandwich
elements.
But during the preliminary analyses
of the prefab elements, we soon
realised that there are problems
relating to the bond between the
clinker brick and the concrete
panels. Seeking additionally to reduce the overall weight of the elements, we came up with the alternative of working with slender clinker
strips. So together with Röben, we
finally decided on producing special 60 mm clinker tiles, to then cut
them in two and hence to achieve a
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vast improvement in the bond with
the concrete.
At the same time, we wanted to
achieve varying surface structures
with different degrees of reflection
and gloss. So initially we considered
using a range of engobes. In the
end, though, we believed that the
smooth reverse of the stones would
be the perfect alternative to achieve
the alternating reflective and less
reflective surfaces we were looking
for. We even boosted this effect by
joining with Röben to develop an
array of grey tones.”
OFFICE COMPLEX
IN GENT (B)
Röben ceramic clinker brick YUKON granite
BRICK-DESIGN®, special sort
Elegant
lady
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The auditorium, housed in a
pavilion on stilts, forms the
eastern end of the flatter building section. For all to see:
The alternating reflective and
non-reflective stone surfaces.
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The slender office tower, 90 m
high, is the new landmark at
the Sint-Pieters railway station in
Gent.
The irregularly positioned atria
with their two-storey glass
surfaces are characteristic
details.
A large-scale office complex
with grey-green, clinker brick
façades has been constructed
in Gent, Belgium, right next
door to the Sint-Pieters railway station. The project by
the Antwerp-based architects
Poponcini & Lootens includes
a 90 metre office tower with
22 storeys, connected to the
north-east by a L-shaped building section over just three
storeys, used as a publiclyaccessible link between the
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railways station forecourt and
the city. "The entire ensemble was designed to possess
the charisma of an elegant
lady, radiating her entire surroundings", says the project
architect Michiel Verhaverbeke
to describe the basic idea that
his office designed. "The highrise slice connects the complex
with the city, while the angled
'arm' interacts with its immediate vicinity."
Public use
Back in 2010, this striking
design emerged victorious
from a competition featuring
plans by renowned co-bidders,
among them Asymptote Architecture (New York) and
Benthem Crouwel Architekten
(Amsterdam). The project began in 2005 with the presentation of a master plan by Eurostation, Poponcini & Lootens
and the French architect Alain
Marguerit, intended to gentrify the area along Koningin
Fabiolalaan, which runs parallel to the rail tracks, by introducing alternating new office
buildings with public spaces.
The new building by Poponcini
& Lootens, completed as the
first project within the plans,
underscores this approach,
harmonising convincingly with
the existing urban context of
city development.
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Esplanade
Pavilion
Office towers
In this, the most important
element is an elevated, public
esplanade, a no-barrier connecting bridge between the
office high-rise and the 'arm'
with its cultural functions.
The eastern end of this flatter
building section is an auditorium, perched on the stilts
of the pavilion in which it
is housed and available for
public functions.
The quality of the design is
further emphasised in the elegantly rhythmical subdivision
of the high-rise building with
its two parallel, yet displaced,
flat slices of differing heights.
The irregularly dotted atria,
whose double-storey expanses
of glass interrupt the straight
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lines of the horizontally aligned windows and within the
offices themselves permit a
direct contextualisation with
the city, represent a further
characteristic detail. Conversely, the front sides of the
building are elegantly sectioned using vertical openings
stretching the entire height of
the structure.
Rough, introverted
character
The architects took just as
much care with creating the
exterior shell as they did on
the building's design and its
integration within the urban
development concept. "To
create a context with the city
of Gent and the block perimeter development along the
adjacent Koningin Fabiolalaan
with all its different clinker
brick façades, we wanted to
make sure that the northfacing façades were given a
rough, strikingly introverted
character", says Michiel Verhaverbeke to describe the
basic thoughts in his office.
“Choosing clinker brick simply
seemed obvious.” Further,
to ensure a robust and dirtrepellent stone with low water
absorption, the architects
ultimately decided to use as
the basis of their considerations a Röben ceramic clinker
brick with its finely tailored
grey nuances and an extre
mely low water absorption
capacity of just 1.5 percent.
In contrast, the southern
façade facing the rail tracks
and the area of the esplanade
were designed with large
windows.
Differing shades of grey
The stone was modified to
suit the architects' individual
perceptions over the process
of Röben BRICK-DESIGN®:
The various shades of grey
were redefined precisely, the
surface was given an extre
mely rough modelling touch
and the size was defined in
The various grey shades of the
were then cut in half along a
The sandwich elements were
clinker were redesigned precisely
horizontal axis. This produced
prefabricated in the factory
as part of the Röben BRICKDESIGN® process; the just
the varied façade look, consi-
and anchored to the reinforced
sting of 50 structured and 50
concrete construction on site.
60 mm thin special clinker bricks
percent rustic-smooth surfaces.
a normal format for the exposed sides.
of all, the lighter and darker
stones were mixed thoroughly.
The masonry surfaces, totalling 20,000 square metres,
were completed entirely using
sandwich elements in order
to cut costs. To help rationalise even further, the Röben
planners proposed producing
special clinker with a thickness
of just 60 mm and then to cut
these bricks into two equal
strip tiles along a horizontal
axis. This created an extremely
varied façade appearance with
50 percent structured front
side and 50 percent rusticsmooth base side. However,
it was crucial to prevent unintentional patterns, and so first
Huge cost savings
To create the masonry, the
architects then decided on
using stack bonding with
joint widths of 12 millimetres.
This means that the 20 millimetre, vertical joints produced
when fitting the elements
are barely noticeable, indeed
disappear from the overall
appearance. If any other
bonding had been used, the
joints would quickly have
proven a disturbance. The
construction time taken was
cut by 30 to 50 percent
through the use of prefab
façade elements. Accordingly, timely inclusion of Röben
planning service in designing
the façade meant that the
tight completion schedule for
the project was met without
any difficulty at all.
Office complex
in Gent (B)
Planning:
Poponcini & Lootens,
Antwerp (BE)
Photos:
André Nullens,
Londerzeel
Röben ceramic clinker brick YUKON
granite
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A fresh look
HOUSING COMPLEX IN
A fresh look with lots of 'free space':
ensuring moderate growth in the community.
High residential quality: The housing estate
MÖHLIN-AESCHEMERBÜNDTE (CH)
The village of Möhlin, located between
They believe that Möhlin should develop as
consists of seven buildings; and despite the
Sonnenberg and the river Rhine in the Swiss
a place where residents and visitors feel at
size it fits unobtrusively into the surroun-
canton of Aargau, is home to roughly 10,000
home; so the local planning provides space
ding development, consisting mainly of single-
inhabitants. The housing estate Orchideenweg
to live, to work and for nature. It is therefore
family homes. The timelessly modern look of
GEESTBRAND variegated white
was constructed here, just 20 minutes by car
fitting that the motto of the new residential
the buildings and the well laid-out space are
from Bern. The local government is intent on
estate is: "You'll blossom here!"
convincing.
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The 60 apartments with 3 ½
and 4 ½ bedrooms offer 95 to
120 m² of space and generous
layouts. The attic floors with
their roof terraces, providing
residents with just shy of 100
m² outside space in addition
to their lavishly appointed indoor rooms, provide that extra
touch of residential quality.
A light and lively brick façade
was chosen to match the look
of the buildings and their
large windows. The Röben
hand-moulded facing bricks
GEESTBRAND in variegated
white are reminiscent of old
clinker brick, mellowing the
strict geometric arrangement
of the façades. 2 and 3-row
pier lintels made of prefab
Röben components were
used around the windows.
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Minergie standard and
sustainability
The principals and architects
placed special importance on
the selection of a high-quality
façade material to ensure
maximum preservation of
value with minimum building
maintenance. The buildings
were constructed in Minergie
style with a two-shell masonry
and core insulation. MINERGIE®
is a Swiss quality mark for
new and modernised old buildings. It focuses on enhancing
comfort for the residents,
improving value preservation
and – as the name suggests
– significant energy savings
during use.
boosts the medium to longterm value of a property. The
savings achieved in energy
costs quickly compensate the
additional expenditure associated with the high-quality
construction. And so is was
hardly surprising that, once
the complex was complete,
the apartments were leased
without any extended period
of vacancy.
Residential complex
in Möhlin-Aeschemerbündte (CH)
Planning:
Kunz & Partner AGgesellschaft mbH,
Basel (CH)
Photos:
Patrick Weber,
Constance
The success of the building
project speaks for the wellchosen concept of sustainability, prudent planning and
convincing design.
GEESTBRAND variegated white
Also, the higher, more robust
building quality demonstrably
23
Living and working
RESIDENTIAL AND OFFICE BUILDING
Living and working right next door? What used
building just before they reach the striking
It measures 80 x 68 metres, offering total
IN HAMBURG
to be commonplace is becoming increasingly
brick red Labour Court along Osterbekkanal.
floor space of 17,400 m². It was constructed
rare. But this symbiosis has been created ‘all in
This is where Hermes and its subsidiary
in two stages; but the sections were directly
one’ in the Hamburg district of Barmbek-South.
HansaControl have found a new home. And
connected. The offices, laboratories and test
Röben brick NEUMARKT ADELAIDE
Anyone driving from the Hamburger Meile
if you turn into the small residential street
rooms that HansaControl uses were built in
b u r g u n d y, f l a m e d b l u e - r e d
shopping centre towards the municipal park
located just before the building, you quickly
2010, while the residential section started two
is bound to notice one standalone new office
realise the entire dimensions of this complex.
years later.
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Expansive loggias,
Following the curved
glazed on all sides,
layout of the road,
let light flow lavishly
the façade was
into the apartments
designed with a
and structure the
slight bend.
living and dining
areas.
Building harmonious
neighbourhoods: Clinker
brick on Weg zur Ruhe
(Path of Peace)
But the decision also sought harmony with the neighbourhood
development, in which clinker
brick buildings predominate.
Although everything appears to
be ‘as if made from one piece’,
the architecture nevertheless
defines a clear break between
working and living. What combines the elements is the façade
material, constructed in clinker
brick to follow good old Hamburg tradition. The architect
Folker Schneehage from Fides
Baugesellschaft sought a 'path
of peace' here. Using the same
clinker brick, the same joint
colour and dark windows.
Moulded bricks for the
street corner
And so he chose the NEUMARKT ADELAIDE burgundy,
flamed blue-red by Röben with
its darker look. In selecting the
material, Schneehage placed his
trust in solidity and sustainability, like in so many other major
projects that bear his signature.
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The architecture displays a strict
structure. The development of
the block edges, which follow
the street and the footpath, not
only define the natural boundaries, but also pose quite a few
challenges. For instance, the façade around the residential development was aligned to suit
the slight curvature of the road,
while moulded bricks by Röben
proved the perfect solution to
the 75° angle of the street corner in the office section.
And although the main entrance to Hermes is on the
main road, the apartments are
accessed via the inner courtyard. It possesses an urban
character, yet in the style of a
garden, even if some of the office section disposal facilities are
situated here. The two-storey
inner courtyard property has a
somewhat airy appearance, but
there is clear delineation of the
green areas and an attractive
cultivation with Himalaya birch
trees. An underground carpark
is found beneath the inner
courtyard, offering 180 parking
bays for Hermes employees and
tenants alike.
are not just quite large, but are
also glazed on all sides and extend into the living space. They
are a natural separation between
the kitchen and living areas,
meaning that the kitchen can be
used open-plan or closed. The
housing complex on Osterbekkanal and the Hermes building
represent an exemplary reflection
of traditional Hamburg-style
clinker brick architecture.
Residential and office building
in Hamburg
Attractive
apartment layouts
Planning:
FIDES Grundstücks- und Wohnungs-
The attractive location and the
intelligent layouts ensured that
the 52 apartments were quickly
taken. The one to three-bedroom apartments are designed
to accommodate families and,
with 53 to 134 m², offer just the
right size to meet any demand.
The loggias are a very special
touch; sized at 3 x 3 metres, they
gesellschaft mbH, Hamburg
Photos:
Urs Kluyver,
Hamburg
Röben brick NEUMARKT ADELAIDE
burgundy, flamed blue-red, smooth
27
“A light touch
of modernism”
RESIDENTIAL BUILDING IN RALEIGH
The new building as residence for the President
provide room for regular outside groups of up
of North Carolina. The Centennial Campus
(USA)
of North Carolina State University, planned
to one hundred persons: "You could say that
was recreated in the mid-eighties, located
by the architect Marvin Malecha in coope-
planning the building was more like designing
around two kilometres to the south-west of
ration with Weinstein Friedlein Architects,
an embassy", says Marvin Malecha to describe
the centre, directly adjacent to a forest and
covers roughly 800 square metres of floor
the challenge the university defined. Home
Lake Raleigh. Now roughly 3,500 students
space and integrates residential quarters and
to approximately one million inhabitants,
attend lectures there. This residential and
above all an expansive functional area to
Raleigh is the second largest city in the State
guest house was constructed there recently.
Hand-moulded facing files
Tr i a n g l e B r i c k
Special firing
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Striking silhouette
To emphasise the representative
importance of the property
in university life, the planners
sought inspiration in the architecture of old manor houses in
North Carolina before choosing
a modern interpretation. Cooperating closely with the university and the resident family
Wolfpack, they created a generously laid-out ensemble, comprised of six clinker brick structures of different heights and
30
with varied elevations of gable
front; together they pen in a
small courtyard. The largest edifice, accommodating the main
entrance and a large reception
hall among others, sets itself
clearly apart from the remaining
group and acts additionally as
the direct extension to a treelined avenue stretching south.
The view to the north is not dissimilar, where the buildings are
extended by a significantly protruding oriel with loggia facing
the garden and the lake.
The three large chimneys represent a further striking detail of
the design, offering effective
ventilation for the in total nine
fireplaces and in their slender
form emphasising the sculptural character of the ensemble.
It is not without good cause
that the idea of a brain factory
comes to mind, one in which
the work completed by the students requires massive industrial
smokestacks. Dark, oakwood
floors and the white-painted
wooden ceilings underscore the
architectural standards once
more on the interior.
“A light touch of modernism”
The new building's most important architectural role models
include the Biltmore Estate,
a manor house by Asheville
constructed in Renaissance
style in 1895, which at the time
was the largest privately-owned
residence in the United States.
“Hugh Newell Jacobsen's architecture had a similarly large in-
fluence; he provided a modern
adaptation for the traditional
architecture of regional manor
houses, contrasting them with
minimalist façades”, explains
Marvin Malecha. “This has produced a light touch of modernism, combining the old with
the new.”
But the actual motivation behind using clinker brick was the
brickwork architecture
This project adapted
and reinterpreted the
traditional building
style of regional
manor houses with
a modern touch.
31
Inside and out, the
architecture is characterised by a generous
layout and an air of
hospitality.
Triangle Brick Company
Röben took over the American company
Triangle Brick Co. in Durham, North
Carolina, with its two clinker factories
at the end of 1978. Now the fourth US
clinker factory, Wadesboro II, within the
Röben Group has started production.
With an output of 120 million clinker
bricks per year, it is among the largest
clinker factories on the continent.
Triangle Brick is one of the five leading
companies in the American brick industry.
32
in the existing campus and in
particular the venerable old
central building Holladay Hall at
the main site of the university.
“Seeking to create a clear architectural reference, we decided
early on to use red clinker brick
also to create the façades in the
new presidential quarters”,
explains Marvin Malecha.
Prize-winning façade
Networking closely with the
local Röben subsidiary TriangleBrick, a special hand-moulded
facing tile was developed,
whose plasticity and sorting
with lighter and darker stones
ultimately satisfied precisely
what the architects were loo-
king for: “The rough surface of
the stones with their rich textures, colours, forms and shadows responds immediately to
the sunlight and also exudes its
very own depth and charisma”,
adds Marvin Malecha.
The hand-moulded facing tiles,
produced in the American
‘Engineer's Size’ (194 x 92 x
70 mm), were grouted in
a calm stretched bond and
then joined in dark colours
to emphasise the building's
individual character. This has
produced masonry of the highest standards of craftsmanship,
impressively demonstrating
the architects' high standards.
The exceptional quality of the
project was honoured by the
renowned Brick in Architecture
Award 2012 in the category of
single-family homes and also
by certification with the international stamp of sustainability
LEED (Leadership in Energy and
Environmental Design).
Residential building in Raleigh (USA)
Planning:
Marvin Malecha, FAIA (Raleigh), in
cooperation with Weinstein Friedlein
Architects (Carrboro)
Property photos:
Dustin Peck Photography
USA
Hand-moulded facing files
Triangle Brick
Special firing
33
Philipp Esch
Stephan Sintzel
“Clinker brick should
reveal the authentic traces of its production,
without any artificial
Photo: esch.sintzel Architekten
structural matrices.”
“First of all, the clinker bricks should
suit their constructed environment
in terms of colour: sandy, untreated.
They should also reveal the authentic
traces of their production, tell a tale of
manufacturing, how they came into
being, without artificial structural
matrices.
In a first stage we ran through the
various clay mixtures. After this we
discussed with the plant manager
the possibility of using uneven baking
temperatures to achieve a variety of
highlights and nuances in the clinker
brick. And the results are pretty beautiful. We simply removed all technical
systems used to ensure that the clinker
bricks have perfectly cut edges. This
34
produces edges with a tendency to
crack, which suits the brittle material!
Ultimately, the finished clinker brick
we selected was the base sorting; this
means that the masonry reveals the
imprints of transport belts and grabbers
used in the factory, also the chipped
edges – factors that usually are prevented on all accounts. The finished clinker
masonry, together with the flush, smoothed masonry without additional grouting, very beautifully documents the
typical aspects of the material and its
craftsmanship.”
A symbiosis of
creativeness
and engineering
RESIDENTIAL CONSTRUCTION
IN BRUNNMATT EAST,
Röben BRICK-DESIGN®
S p e c i a l s o r t B R U N N M AT T
BERN (CH)
35
The façade facing the courtyard incorporates four ‘folds’
The Röben BRICK-DESIGN® special sort BRUNNMATT
to ensure that as many residential units as possible bene-
integrates the property in the dominant sand-coloured
fit from the peaceful grounds; conversely, the street-side
development in the vicinity and almost creates the
façade is perfectly straight.
impression that it had always stood at this location.
A special newsletter and a
website that accompanies the
building progress from the first
cut of the spade, a neighbour
who takes more than just
photos of the building site,
but also paints it from various
perspectives and then exhibits
the results. Entire school classes
climbing through the bare
brickwork sporting colourful
helmets – the residential project
Brunnmatt-East in Bern, which
started at the end of 2010, was
already full of life before the
first tenant even moved in.
Now most of the 95 apartments are occupied, and a
café is set to open soon in
36
the commercial area. “Five
Friends” was the name that
the Zurich-based architects
esch.sintzel, who staked their
claim to the project by beating
10 rivals in an architectural
competition, gave to their new
construction project. What
they created is an architecturally distinguished building,
satisfying all demands placed
by the principal and the local
government. The standards
placed in the construction project were high: It was intended
to gentrify the neighbourhood
whose transformation has only
just started; it should provide
a meeting place and promote
a healthy mixture of different
forms of housing and cohabitation despite the substantial
structural density.
Sustainable building,
low energy costs,
efficient maintenance
Sustainable design of the rented apartments, low energy
costs and efficient maintenance were also on the agenda. There was equally a call
for effective screening of the
noise emissions from a hightraffic road running directly
along an axis of the property.
And as one of the most prominent design elements, the
architects were keen on a
clinker brick façade. The paths
between Röben and the esch.
sintzel architects crossed for
the first time at the Swissbau
in 2010. At the time an employee in the office stood in
front of a poster advertising
the Röben planning service,
promising a clinker façade at
an affordable price. This is by
no means self-evident in Switzerland, as here the buildings
sporting a clinker brick façade
remain fairly rare, and so awareness of their economic efficiency is not widespread. The
poster also promised construction security and construction
support. Discussions followed,
and it soon became clear that
Philipp Esch and Stephan Sintzel had very specific perceptions of how a façade should
be designed. The colour of
the clinker brick should match
properties in the vicinity,
should be sand-coloured and
untreated; it should also be
installed just as if it had come
straight from the oven.
37
Philipp Esch developed very precise perceptions of ‘his’
BRICK-DESIGN® stone. During his visit to the Röben clin-
The total of 95 residential units, designed alternately as duplex
ker factory in Bannberscheid he kept precise records of
least two directions, but the majority face in three.
housing and apartments covering an entire floor, each face at
the material and production options.
Discussion and experiments
in the Röben test
laboratory
The architects were invited to
visit the Röben clinker factory
in Bannberscheid. This also featured discussions and tests with
the ceramic engineers of the
possibilities inherent to the production process, and also what
can cause it to fail. Esch kept
a precise record of everything
that would be feasible and
also where the raw material's
natural limits are found.
The very exact perceptions the
architects held were then taken
to create a formulation for the
clay mixture, and initial samples
were baked.The best results
were installed in a large trial
wall on the building site in Bern
and then discussed with the
principal. The result was very
well-received and so a new clinker was born – the Brunnmatt.
38
It is an ideal symbiosis between
creativeness and the full use of
opportunities found in nature
and engineering; one could say
therefore that it is a typical result of Röben BRICK-DESIGN®,
in which planners and engineers join in developing the
desired product.
Brunnmatt specifically centres
on the hard, brittle material,
with which the architect consciously accepts chipped edges,
even emphasising the roughness in the masonry by using a
rustic touch in smoothing the
uncompressed mortar grouting.
The selected colour integrates
the property in the dominant
sand-coloured development in
the vicinity and almost creates
the impression that it had always stood at this location.
Sun, peace, privacy
It is not just the façade that is
unusual; it is the entire housing
concept. Sun, peace, privacy
These core concerns define the
special structure of the residential units, which alternate
in duplex and full-storey types.
The residences wind themselves
around the stairwell and hence
cover the entire depth of the
structure. And the name 'Five
Friends' is more than just a nice
pseudonym; it sets the entire
tone.
residential units as possible
benefit from the calm, green
park; conversely, the street-side
façade is perfectly straight. Each
of these folds accommodates
four apartments per storey. This
compact development still guarantees enough privacy for each
resident, while giving them the
feeling that they live right next
to a park.
The apartments stretch like
germinating shoots towards the
midday light or, in the style of
park-side residences, face into
the morning or evening sun,
providing effective screening
from the noisy road without
turning away from the sunny
sides. The façade facing the
courtyard incorporates four
'folds' to ensure that as many
39
Prefab tiles covering the
masonry
The façade concept cuts
construction costs
Röben succeeded in achieving
economic efficiency in the
façade by using a concept involving a combination of applied prefab components and
special anchoring in the traditionally erected masonry. This
meant that the façade was put
up at low cost and without
expensive props stretching from
the foundation to the attic. But
it was still necessary to ensure
that the anchoring could hold
thermal expansion up to a
height of 18 m and that constraint points were avoided in
the façade.
Façade section with pillars
Corner with lintels
and parapet elements made
and upright courses
of prefab brick elements.
made of prefab brick
elements.
Detail: Parapet with masonry
Residential construction
tiling and pillars.
in Brunnmatt-East, Bern (CH)
A large number of prefab components with varying functions
were developed to complete
the project: Above all the parapet and attic elements, also the
large number of prefab lintels
and various masonry tiling, helped substantially speed up the
construction progress.
Planning:
esch.sintzel Architekten
Zurich (CH)
Photos:
Patrick Weber,
Constance
Röben BRICK-DESIGN®, special sort
Prefab brick lintels
40
BRUNNMATT
41
Prima Colonia
TWO CITY VILLAS
The village of Widdersdorf, located to the West
buildings each accommodate five exclusive con-
IN COLOGNE
where Cologne gradually dissipates into country-
dominiums with four different layout types and
side, became part of the city back in 1975. The
apartment sizes from 117 to 166 m². One of their
new residential estate Prima Colonia has been an
characteristic architectural details is the clinker
Röben clinker strip tiles NEUMARKT ADELAIDE
ongoing development since 2007; at the moment
brick façades shimmering in red and blue, which
b u r g u n d y, f l a m e d b l u e - r e d , s m o o t h
it is among the largest private sector housing pro-
blend the project harmoniously into its surroun-
jects in Germany. The project 'zweivillen' by the
dings. By 2015, a total of 1,000 houses and apart-
architects Cornelius Schmitz-Helbig was also com-
ments for roughly 3,500 residents are scheduled
pleted right in its centre. These two high-quality
for completion on an area of around 130 ha.
42
43
The moving privacy shield
elements made of wood, and
the dark frames of the windows
and doors harmonise beautifully
with the red and blue play on
colour in the Röben NEUMARKT
ADELAIDE clinker strip tiles.
44
45
High-quality clinker façade
with strip tiles
The new buildings, constructed
in reinforced concrete, were
fitted with a high-quality and
lastingly weatherproof clinker
façade in order to satisfy the
high standards in designing the
outsides of the houses. “The
Röben clinker strip tiles NEUMARKT ADELAIDE in burgundy
we selected create a modern
highlight at the site thanks to
their lively red and blue play
on colours and also underscore
the neighbourhood's design
concept”, says the architect
Cornelius Schmitz-Helbig to describe the concept. The stones
also perfectly complement the
wooden privacy shield elements
and the dark doors and window
frames.
bonded with the composite
heat insulation system
(140 mm ESP in WLG 035).
A special feature of this project
were the angular facing strips
that Röben cut horizontally specifically for this purpose; they
meant that the existing rows in
the large lintel areas were not
interrupted by a soldier course,
and were instead elegantly continued with the horizontal clinker tiles. In this, the light grey
colour of the grouting mortar
used and the ‘wild courses’
with irregularly positioned stretchers and heads emphasise the
lively play of colour in the clinker strip tiles and play a defining role in complementing the
high-quality overall impression
of the two villas.
Living ‘under the linden’
Special manufacture for the
lintels
"When we were planning the
project we got together with
the Röben planning service
and decided to use clinker strip
tiles on a composite heat insulation system to ensure that the
construction remains as light
as possible", reports the architect Cornelius Schmitz Helbig.
Instead of building stone for
stone, the strip tiles with their
thickness of just 14 millimetres
in normal format were simply
46
The Prima Colonia estate is
comprised of nine sections,
each with their own character
– one of them is the ‘Unter den
Linden’ quarter, which stretches
along a central, tree-lined avenue. The mixture of single-family homes and apartment blocks
and the integration of existing
businesses, cafés and smaller
office properties are intended to
create a lively neighbourhood
with an urban charisma. “To reflect this character we decided
to use a good-quality, lastingly
weatherproof design that centres on the material”, explains
Cornelius Schmitz-Helbig, responsible for the project ‘zweivillen’ as managing director of
the investor SH Concept, and
not just as the architect.
Another element in designing
the city villas is the second
floor of the buildings, a stacked
storey, rendered in a different
shade of white. The all-round
roof terraces provide the generously appointed penthouse
apartments with a beautiful
360° degree over the neighbourhood and the surrounding
countryside. Floor-length windows with dark frames, fitted
with French balconies on the
first floor and providing an
unbroken access to the terrace
and the separate gardens, lend
emphasis to the open-style,
overall impression. Alternatively,
residents on the first floor have
a loggia with moving privacy
shield elements made of wood.
Controlled room ventilation,
underfloor heating and an
underground garage with
13 parking bays round off the
features found in the two city
villas.
Two city villas
in Cologne
Planning:
Schmitz-Helbig Architektur
Cologne (D)
Photos:
Cornelia Suhan, Dortmund
Röben clinker brick strip tiles
NEUMARKT ADELAIDE
burgundy, flamed blue-red
The silky, shimmering surfaces of the clinker strip tiles
reflect the light at very different angles, depending on
the perspective. This lends
the colours an at times
strong and intense look,
other times soft and gentle.
This photo on the right hand
side impressively demonstrates how well this liveliness
blends with the façade
architecture.
Striking
cube
OFFICE BUILDING IN TRIESEN
Home to 35,000 residents and covering an area
gest community in the Alpine state. There,
dark clinker. A characteristic feature of the
(LIECHTENSTEIN)
of 160 square kilometres, the Principality of
in an industrial estate on the southern limits,
new building, located right along a busy
Liechtenstein, nestled between Switzerland
also the site of the Austrian crystal glass
main road, is its quadratic proportions with
and Austria, is among the world's smallest
manufacturer Swarovsky with its approxi-
identical edge lengths. The employees of the
R ö b e n c l i n k e r b r i c k C H E L S E A N F,
states. The small town of Triesen, situated to
mately 7,000 employees, the office building
trust firm housed here on four storeys are
basalt-variegated
the south of Schaan and Vaduz and boasting
by the local architectural firm Bargetze &
accommodated across generous useful floor
a populace of around 5,000, is the third lar-
Partner was completed in strikingly detailed,
space of 900 m².
48
49
The architects structured and
opened up the building's
outer shell using expansive,
double-leaf windows to ensure
that all areas receive sufficient
sunlight. The areas between
the windows protrude roughly
12 millimetres from the remaining masonry as modern
and stylish columns. Contrasts
dotted across the entirely
sealed façade areas interrupt
the strict rhythm of the window openings, permitting
alternation between the more
open and more closed areas,
also toward the inside. Additionally, the architects designed
a roof terrace, recessed and
integrated within the cubic
structure of the building.
Inside room,
bathed in light
A cultivated forecourt provides access to the inside areas,
separating the building from
the road. Employees and visitors initially pass through a
recessed entrance to access a
large atrium rising buildinghigh, a reception area designed as a communication
zone.
The architects arranged the
offices and meeting rooms
on all levels around this core.
Glancing up, the displaced
arrangement of the window
and ceiling apertures catches
the eye, playing vivaciously with light and shadow and also
offering adequate sunlight to
the office areas facing inward.
51
Surprising views, both in
and out. Although the
cube appears compact
and sealed from the
outside, it is entirely airy
and bathed in light on
the inside.
Side rooms and the stairwell
with lift are found in the northfacing side, while the terrace
and a cafeteria, designed as a
meeting point, are located on
the top floor.
Referencing the Alps
The planers preferred a dark
clinker brick façade with a
lively look in order to create a
timeless and distinguished style
for the international trust company and also to cater to the
investor's proclivity for all things
to do with Anglo-Saxon brickwork. Joining with Röben, the
two project architects Simone
Wohlgenannt and Ralph Beck
found what they needed to put
their ideas of the perfect brick
design into practice. A detailed
façade concept was drafted in
close cooperation with Röben
planning service; it was then
used to create an individual
design sort of the architectural
stone CHELSEA basalt-variegated in normal format. “The
type we selected emphasises
the high-quality character of
the architecture and also holds
its own against the surrounding
Alpine countryside”, explains
Simone Wohlgenannt. Prefab
lintel elements were used above
the windows to ensure that
construction progressed quickly
and inexpensively.
Classic and state of the art
standard
Selecting the stretcher courses
with dark grey grouting creates
a peaceful counterpole to the
slight protrusions and recesses
in the masonry.
The delicate play between
stones around the base, windows and roof consciously
reflects classical masonry
craftsmanship. Not just in an
optical sense, the clinker bricks
by Röber are the right choice
in terms of sustainability, also:
“Unlike rendered façades the
stones are weather-resistant, do
not require maintenance and
‘age gracefully’, too”, says the
architect Ralph Beck to describe
the additional benefits of the
material. Combined also with
high-quality insulation and
technical facilities such as the
installation of a thermal pump
for heat recovery and cooling,
the new building satisfies
all requirements of the Swiss
Minergiebau standard, which
is roughly equivalent to the
German KfW-Effizienzhaus-60.
Office building in Triesen (Liechtenstein)
Planning:
Bargetze & Partner Architekten, Triesen
(Liechtenstein)
Photos:
Patrick Weber, Constance
Oliver Hartmann (Interieur), Chur (CH)
Bargetze & Partner, Triesen (FL)
Röben clinker brick CHELSEA NF,
basalt-variegated
52
53
Modern
Language
of forms
“CITY VILLA KURFÜRSTENGÄRTEN”
The ‘City Villas Kurfürstengärten’ in Berlin-
times complex façade props, prefab elements
total of 20 apartments in an upper-class,
IN BERLIN
Lankwitz are just the ticket for Röben plan-
around the windows and a specially baked
peaceful, residential district in the south of
ning service. This construction needed more
stone in an unusual format for the clinker.
Berlin. Apartment blocks predominate in the
cityscape here. But over the last few
than just the finished product; it also called
Röben clinker brick ACCUM blue-brown
for planning and creative services – more
The property: Two city villas built on a
years, single-family homes and terraced
Röben ceramic clinker brick OSLO pearl-white
or less a one-stop solution. It required true
plot of land stretching 25 metres wide
housing has mainly been constructed on
expertise, involving detailed plans for the at
and 100 metres deep to accommodate a
the last free plots.
54
55
Two buildings
in open-plan style
The basic idea behind the design was to create a green,
sunny housing complex that guarantees all tenants the greatest
possible degree of privacy while
nevertheless providing a semiopen area as a place to meet.
The planning office asked for
three buildings; but after discussions with neighbours a decision was reached to construct
just two, offering appealing architecture in an open-plan style.
As many as possible of the trees
that the investor had found on
the overgrown plot when it was
purchased were preserved. This
helped create a large, park-like
expanse of green between the
two houses. A modern, contemporary language of forms
was designed for the buildings
themselves: large, floor-length
windows and an open layout
56
provide generously appointed
apartments, bathed in light. The
stacked storey with flat roof
also provided a modern layout
without barriers.
Specially baked stones
in a special format
The investor requested that
the façade should offer a
sustainable solution without
downstream maintenance. So
the decision was made to erect
solid, clamshell masonry with
clinker brick. The exterior walls
consist of supporting, 24 cm
rear masonry made of Röben
thermal bricks, 14 cm mineral
core insulation and then the
facing masonry.
The stacked storey was designed in a distinct, different
and lighter colour to create the
impression of a less voluminous
structure. The final choice was
dark Röben ACCUM blue-
brown for the lower storeys and
the pearl-white Röben ceramic
clinker OSLO in thin format for
the stacked storey – which in
frequently cases is simply rendered. The ACCUM, a classic NF
clinker, was also produced as a
DF special fired stone. The grouting in the dark clinker expanses
was completed in anthracite,
while the white surfaces were
joined in cement grey.
Close cooperation with the
Röben planning service
ners without lintels were able to
support the load of the masonry
above without any further reinforcement.
The energy supply also comes
with a special feature: Heating
and warm water supply to the
building is provided using a gaspowered, combined heat and
power system. Tenants benefit
from the inexpensive electricity
electricity it produces, and the
system is also used to power the
complex itself. So the principle
of sustainability was upheld
here as well, complementing the
highly insulated, maintenancefree clinker façade.
“City Villas Kurfürstengärten”
in Berlin
Planning:
The architect and Röben planning service cooperated closely
from the start. All lintels and the
sills on the ground floor windows were designed as prefab
elements. The areas around the
oriels and the corner windows
demanded special attention. Röben angular lintels with special
stainless steel façade props were
developed to complete these
sections, meaning that the cor-
Bosch & Kröplin Architekten,
Berlin
Photos:
Fotodesign Klose, Schwerin
Röben clinker brick ACCUM blue-brown
Röben ceramic clinker brick
OSLO pearl-white, smooth
57
Mystical sculptures
RESIDENTIAL HOUSES
Residential houses had quite a bad repu-
a further unusual manner of interpreting
homes and U-shaped apartment blocks, the
IN BREDA (NL)
tation following all the developments of
the topic. Sculptura, a new residential estate
new estate will include the three 18-floor
the nineteen-sixties and seventies. But in
located roughly three kilometres south-west
residential towers by Jacq. de Brouwer and
recent years a new typology and modified
of the historical centre at the entrance to a
their in total 163 flexibly laid-out domiciles.
R ö b e n c l i n k e r b r i c k FA R O
living and design concepts have succee-
forest and designed to provide 340 apart-
black-nuanced
ded in breathing new life into this form of
ments for around 1,000 inhabitants, is under
building. The three residential towers by
construction and scheduled for completion
Bedaux de Brouwer Architecten, located in
by 2015. Complementing an initial stage
the 180,000-inhabitant city of Breda, reveal
of construction with detached single-family
58
59
The name of the three towers is as
unusual as the architecture itself.
After all, in choosing Constant,
Appel and Corneille, the planners
have made explicit reference to
the artist group CoBrA, established
in 1948 and whose members also
included the Dutch artists Constant,
Karel Appel and Corneille (the name
is taken from the first letters in the
city names Copenhagen, Brussels
and Amsterdam, where the group's
founding members hailed from).
60
61
The residential towers
Striking high rises in an
stand proud in the midst
environment dominated
of the surrounding, older
more by flat buildings.
development.
Layout of a floor
with four balconies.
Like in science fiction
The three identical ’sculptures’
have a remarkable height of
60 metres each, and therefore
quite consciously shatter the
scale otherwise found here.
Instead of shyly slotting into
their background, the three
structures confidently assert
their presence within the surrounding landscape and the
urban district of De Heuvelk
with its monotonous buildings
from the nineteen-fifties to
62
the north-east; it's almost
as if one wakes up in science
fiction, finding oneself quite
unexpectedly confronted with
a futuristic ‘housing machine’.
A rhythmically displaced
arrangement of protruding
balconies, set at different and
irregular heights, highlights the
unusual design concept. The
slender, duplex windows and
and abstract-geometrical structure of the grounds above the
subterranean carpark are two
other characteristic details.
Black shell
“The city of Breda and the
investor, Ontwikkelingscombinatie Wonen Breburg & Nederlandse Bouw Unie, sought to
create a project with landmark
character for this location”, says
Jacq. de Brouwer to explain the
unusual forms. “To implement
the urban development specifications we received, we set out
to look for architecture that on
the one hand possessed a touch
of the mystical, drawing atten-
tion to itself, but on the other
hand was not merely a product
of fashion. In this way we hoped it would be lasting.”
The façade design concept makes a substantial contribution to
the character of the buildings.
Emphasising the mystical and
abstract, sculptural impression
of the architecture while at the
same time helping the development to fit in with the clinker
architecture in the adjacent
buildings and the apartment
63
PREFAB PLAAT MET STEENSTRIPS
Emphasising the sculptural
Detail: The underside on each
quality of the buildings: The
of the lowest balconies in
shear walls, also with clinker,
each row were clad in a strip
that protrude roughly 40 cm
tile prefab element.
from the façade, next to the
slender duplex windows.
blocks in De Heuvel, Jacq. de
Brouwer turned once again to
‚his‘ clinker brick, FARO blacknuanced in 210x100x52 millimetre waal format, which he
had already used in numerous
other projects. „The dark, elegantly black hues helped us
perfectly implement our façade
concept“, said the architect.
„Also, the stones gives us certainty that the façades will still
look precisely the same and just
as good as they do today in 15
years.“
The stretcher courses with dark
grouting produced a dense
texture that further emphasises
the relief-like character of the
rhythmically protruding masonry
sections. An elaborate design
without butt joints that required
significant craftsmanship and
which ideally underscored the
dimensionally accurate clinker
brick lent further quality. Producing the ceilings beneath the
protruding balconies proved a
technical challenge.Only prefab
elements were used here to
ensure safe and rapid building
progress.
Another unusual feature of the
design was the shear walls, also
with clinker brick, projected
from the façade by around 40
centimetres to the left and right
of the slender duplex windows
and hence emphasising the
sculptural quality of the buildings. French balconies made of
stainless steel were integrated
as an additional detail in front
of the joints, also continuous,
horizontal façade strips made of
steel panels layered with stonecoloured material, each of
which was designed to merge
two storeys into one unit. The
architects have succeeded in
bringing together the various
elements to form an unusual
façade concept that impressively underscores the individual
aestheticism of the three new
buildings.
Residential houses
in Breda (NL)
Planning:
Bedaux de Brouwer,
Breda (NL)
Photos:
Michael Kievits,
Breda (NL)
Röben clinker brick FARO
black-nuanced, smooth
65
Photo: Frank Peterschröder
“The size of the building comes into its
own simply due to this special stone.”
“Studying photos of the old Roll‘schen
Ironworks factory halls, Röben initially
produced clay mixtures that after being
burned would come as close as possible to the clinker brick used in the original buildings. After this we put up the
masonry in to-scale sample walls, each
measuring three metres. In all of this
we were careful to reference the existing buildings in the vicinity to help in
adapting a selection of possible colours
and stone formats.
We then got together with the principal and decided on a cream-white
ceramic clinker brick by Röben that
had quite a few special features to
offer. We designed the baking process
to ensure that the façade look was
given depth and high resolution due to
the nuances in colour. Although quite
straight-lined, this means that the façade never appears flat or smooth;
instead the clinker brick lends a lively
texture. This perception receives a further boost from the special surface
finishing we achieved by sanding with
various shades of red. The red hues,
scattered haphazardly, contrast harmoniously with the cream-white shades of
the clinker brick. A combination that
looks natural and lively. And it remains
that way. After all: the façade patina will
undergo constant changes over the
course of years and decades and will
age in the best possible sense.
We took particular care in designing the
façade look; and so the size of the building comes into its own simply due to
this special stone. The last thing we want
is a faceless house: In this clinker brick,
we have the guarantee that the façade
will indeed have a face. If you imagine
this building with monotone rendering,
it would be far more likely to appear
devoid of character!”
Daniel Spreng
Depth and
lively texture
INSTITUTE BUILDING FOR
THE UNIVERSITY CENTRE
Röben BRICK-DESIGN®
Special grade
VONROLL, BERN (CH)
67
Old and new, directly
adjacent: The sandcoloured brick façade of
the old points building –
now the lecture hall – and
the new building with the
specially developed clinker.
The Canton of Bern is building
a new university centre for the
University and the Pedagogical
College of Bern on the former
vonRoll AG production site. A
compact, four-storey institute
building was completed recently; its imposing size of one
hundred by eighty metres alone
creates an important urban development highlight within the
district.
For centuries, the district of
Länggasse, located to the west
of Bern main railway station,
was dominated by the vonRoll
factories that produced rail
tracks here in the light clinker
brick production buildings. But
when production relocated in
1997, the former blue-collar
neighbourhood gradually changed into a mixed residential and
university district.
68
The new building in strict orthogonal arrangement with
large windows and punctuated
façades made of light clinker
brick is home to social sciences
and parts of the humanities faculties at the University of Bern,
in addition to the Pedagogical
College facilities and the central
University Library computing
centre.
Swiss
Minergie-P-Eco-Standard
Seminar rooms and offices
are found on the three upper
storeys and in the slightly
recessed ground floor, which,
to provide variety, is not designed in clinker brick. 4,000
students and 500 staff members have access to the bright
and airy lending library and
the cafeteria on the second
basement floor. The University
Library computing centre is
housed on a further basement
level. In 2007, the office of
Giuliani Hönger Architects
from Zurich was commissioned
with the 120 million euro
project, completed according
to the Swiss Minergie-P-EcoStandard. The office was also
charged with re-purposing the
former points building as a
lecture hall in 2009. A subsidiary was commissioned with
the work once Röben planning
service had completed the
entire façade scheme. The
Bern-based office of Spreng
& Partner emerged victorious
from the tender procedure
for construction planning,
charged with preserving the
structure's high architectural
quality.
BRICK-DESIGN® for the
property's clinker brick.
The tender documents specified the use of light, sand-coloured clinker brick in the new
institute building in order to
forge links with the industrial
history of the area and the
architecture of the old factory
halls. Accordingly, the clinker
brick that the general contractor and Röben developed over
the course of the design phase
not only presented the option
of an individual look, but also
a high degree of planning and
cost security. To do this, Röben planning service worked
within a one-stop solution to
create the complete façade
concept, including prefab
lintels and ceiling panels, without demanding an additional
risk premium.
During production of the stones
in the Röben factory, the clay
grades for the stones were selected to match the perceptions
of the architects, providing
colour nuances to yield a lively
texture instead of a faceless
edifice: “This was important for
us, as the building's size comes
into its own simply due to this
special stone”, explains Daniel
Spreng. A particular surface finishing, consisting of decorative
sanding in various shades of
red, lends emphasis to the overall façade look: “The red hues,
appearing almost haphazardly
scattered, contrast harmoniously with the cream-white shades
of the clinker brick, lending the
stone and therefore the façade
a very natural charisma.”
6
B
8
A
12
A
A
B
A Atria in the University Library
on the 2nd basement level
B Access to the
basement levels.
69
Fitting the prefab ceiling
The ceiling panels
panels. Clearly visible:
are fitted. The still open
The supporting layer of
recesses for the mounting
concrete and the exposed
anchors are sealed using
side with the clinker strip
clinker strip tiles.
tiles.
Friendly
and earthquake-proof.
A total of 140,000 stones in
normal format were delivered
to the building site to complete
the masonry. The perfect craftsmanship of the completion in a
wild pattern with light grouting
mortar helps lend the façades a
friendly appearance. The ceilings
in the recessed ground floor are
a special feature: To cater to the
technical side of creating the
desired ‘floating character of
the architecture’, Röben planning service designed a total of
1,000 square metres of prefab
70
ceiling panels. The requirement
that the construction should be
earthquake-proof placed high
demands in terms of safety. The
elements, each seven square
metres in size, were therefore
attached using particularly rigid
anchors to prevent the panels
from oscillating.
Institute building for the
university centre
vonRoll, Bern (CH)
Architects:
Spreng & Partner,
Bern (CH)
Photos:
Patrick Weber,
Constance
Röben BRICK-DESIGN®, special grade
71
Diamonds are
the name of
the game
SCHOOL CAFETERIA
The Louise von Rothschild School in the
dirschl.federle_architekten with a black
hed in 2008 by merging the venerable old
IN FRANKFURT/MAIN
Frankfurt district of Bornheim has constructed
clinker brick façade and providing a large
Weidenborn School and the now-closed
a new cafeteria in passive house standard
glass front facing the playground and the
Bornheimer Secondary School.
in order to offer the roughly 450 students a
historical, older building, is home to a
regular, warm lunch and therefore to ope-
cutting-edge industrial kitchen and a large
rate as an all-day school. Thee cubic building,
refectory illuminated by skylights and laid
designed by the Frankfurt-based office
out to seat 60. The school was establis-
BRICK-DESIGN®, special grade
72
73
Minimalist design
Since founding their office in
2007, the architects Kristin
Dirschl and Matthias Federle
have been responsible for
completing several school
cafeterias in Frankfurt/Main.
Seeking to achieve the best
possible integration of the single-storey cafeteria at Louise
von Rothschild School in the
existing structural context and
to make ideal use of the slight
southward slope the area
occupies, the planners designed the building right on the
boundary of the property, running parallel to the somewhat
elevated, northward course
of Weidenbornstraße. Viewed
from there, it now resembles
a half-storey demarcation of
the school playground; but
74
the full height of the building
becomes apparent when seen
from the school, facing south,
where it holds its own against
the three-storey structure. The
triple-glazed transom/mullion
façade, which can be partially
opened during good weather,
and the terrace, some of it
roofed by a ceiling that runs
at a slant towards the outside and is embedded in the
building itself, create smooth
transitions between the dining
room and the adjacent playground.
A staircase runs left along
the west façade, leading up
to Weidenbornstraße. The
south-facing façade with its
six slender, vertical windows
is extended by the black expanse of clinker brick and
the recessed main entrance.
On the inside, this leads into
a room to wash hands and
the cutlery and food delivery
points. The kitchen and the
delivery zone were arranged
in the northern section of the
building.
Ornamental
relief design
From the start, the concept
for the façades planned to
use dark clinker in order to set
the new building, constructed
using stable reinforced concrete, clearly apart from the
existing, 19th century structure with its historical sandstone front; a combination
with effective insulation was
also intended to satisfy the
high demands of the passive
house standard. “We chose
a black clinker by Röben in
order to create what we envisaged”, says the architect
Kristin Dirschl, looking back.
The smooth clinker with its
black nuances and shades that
drift slightly into anthracite is
by far the darkest stone. “This
lends the façades an almost
abstract character, which even
at first glance emphasises the
contrast between the old and
the new.” The elegant juxtaposition of black and white
materials between the dark
NF clinker and the painted
metal soffits of the dining roof
terrace is a further successful
detail.
The ornamental relief design
with a specially developed
bonding, in which each head
stone juts 20 mm from the
The diamond motif was
The ornamental, diamond-
to the coat of arms of the
referenced as a recurring
shaped relief design was
Rothschild Family, which was
element on the ceiling of
taken from the idea of
based here in Frankfurt.
the dining room.
forging an abstract link
(image bottom left)
School cafeteria
in Frankfurt/Main
Planning:
dirschl.federle_architekten
Frankfurt/Main
Photos:
Gehard P. Müller,
Dortmund,
BRICK-DESIGN®, special grade
76
remaining masonry to form a
diamond pattern, is another
eye-catcher: “On the one hand
the design is intended to lend
structure to the masonry; but
on the other we wanted to
reference the coat of arms of
the Rothschild family, which
was based here in Frankfurt,
in an abstract form”, says
Kristin Dirschl to explain the
unusual concept. The school's
eponymous family, among the
most influential bankers, has
founded several social institutions in the city since 1870.
Additionally, the diamond motif
was referenced as a recurring
element on the ceiling of the
dining room and on the fencing
around the building. A successful concept that convincingly
blends material structure, form
and history while creating
an iconic contribution to the
identity of the entire school.
77
Photo: diederendirrix architecten
“The special grade consisting of two shades of white, and a
Rob Meurders
few glazed white clinker bricks, produces a very individual
overall appearance.”
“The urban development master plan
for the district included in particular
the use of light colour tones in order
to integrate the district in its adjacent
development and, at the same time,
to preserve an open and friendly façade character. To ensure a varied and
individual façade appearance, we
joined with Röben planning service to
develop a special grade consisting of
two clinker bricks in different shades
of white and two percent glazed
stones. The characteristic coloured
nuances of the various stones are complementary and blend to form an individual, overall impression with some
lighter, highlighted spots. On the westfacing front side in particular, this
ensures that the façades appear lively.
78
The master planning for the area specified that different firms of architects
would be commissioned with varying
façade designs for the individual buildings, with the aim of creating a kind
of 'collage effect'. We wanted to use a
clear material within this prescribed framework, whose colouring and surface
quality would appear subtle and powerful at the same time. We also had plans
to design some of the façade in wave
shapes; the light ceramic clinker bricks
emphasise the play on light and shadow that this concept produces.”
With a view
over the water
CONSTRUCTING HOUSING
IN AMSTERDAM (NL)
BRICK-DESIGN®, special grade made of
varying white and white-glazed Röben
ceramic clinker bricks
79
Façade detail in a nine-storey
building Even without sun the
white-glazed ceramic clinker
bricks leave a strong impression.
The planners around Paul Diederen and Bert Dirrix have been
among the leading firms of
architects in the Netherlands
for years now. The office was
most recently honoured with
the BNA Gebouw van het jaar
2013, Holland's most important architecture award, for its
redevelopment planning of a
former boiler house to create a
research institute.
Clearly visible:
The white-glazed
clinker stones.
The latest designs by diederendirrix include the planning of
four corner developments in
white clinker brick in the new
city district Laan van Spartaan
in Amsterdam. This district,
under construction in the
Dutch metropolis and located
directly adjacent to the A 10
motorway, is intended to provide roughly 1,000 new rental
apartments and freehold condominiums in different styles by
2016. Renowned Dutch firms
of architects such as Claus &
Kaan, MVRDV, DP6 or Dick van
Gameren will design a large
number of the apartments in
order to guarantee a high standard of architecture and urban
development.
Horizontal façade courses
The new buildings by diederendirrix are among the projects
in the district to be completed
first. The blocks were designed
continuously over four storeys
along Fanny Blankers-Koenlaan
in the south, while those in
Erasmusgracht, located to the
north, rise to a height of nine
floors. Residents of each building can enjoy a semi-private
garden area laid out in the inner courtyards.
The architects consciously decided to design buildings of
differing heights to implement
the urban development specifi-
cations for the neighbourhood
and to make perfect use of
the attractive location between
Erasmusgracht and the sports
centre found at the heart of
the district. Viewed along Erasmusgracht with its elevated
fronts, the eye is drawn to building-high structures made of
aluminium fins, while the substantially flatter and therefore
seemingly more private buildings in the southern section
were designed with a recessed
stack storey and a roof terrace. The shiningly white clinker
brick façades are opened up
using portrait format, slightly
displaced windows, which provide for plenty of sunlight in all
apartments.
The rows running horizontally
and stretching in slight wave
patterns between the windows and across the entire
width of the façade, blending
the storeys
81
The south-facing, flatter buildings
Eye-catching: The masonry rows
accommodate a recessed stack
running horizontally in a wavy
storey and an expansive roof terrace.
pattern.
on the face of the building, represent a successful feature of
this design. But it is not just in
aesthetic terms that the design
is pleasing; it also helps distinguish the individual apartments
themselves, as the meandering
rows each enclose one domicile. The individual units are accessed from the road via several
entrances and stairwells, each
of which leads to a separate
section of the building.
Individual clinker grade
Röben ceramic clinker bricks in
the buildings: G4, G6, G8, G11.
Courtyard A will follow in a later
stage of construction
82
The urban development master
planning specified the use of
light clinker brick in the district
to to integrate the area in the
surrounding development and
at the same time to maintain
an open and friendly character.
To create a varied and individual façade appearance, the
planners designed a grade
made of smooth Röben ceramic clinker brick: A mixture
consisting of equal numbers
of finely matched cream-white
and pearl-white shades and two
percent glazed stones. “The
characteristic colourings of the
various stones harmonise to
form a new, individual, overall
impression with a few shining,
bright highlights. On the expansive front sides of the high
buildings especially, this allows
the façades to leave a lively and
varied impression.”
In total, 30,000 stones were installed in stretcher bonds on the
building site and then joined
using grey grouting.
A special factor of this is the
use of the relatively small waal
format of 210 x 100 x 50
millimetres, which is quite popular in the Netherlands, and
which requires a substantially
higher proportion of grouting
in the façade, hence emphasising the masonry character
of the walls. There were also
structural aspects that came
out in favour of using the Röben ceramic clinker brick: “It
has a low water absorption
capacity of merely 1.5 %, so
the dirt that forms deposits
everywhere in large cities is
simply washed off the next
time it rains”, explains Rob
Meurders.
Constructing housing
in Amsterdam (NL)
Planning:
diederendirrix architecten
Eindhoven (NL)
Photos:
Luuk Kramer,
Amsterdam
BRICK-DESIGN, special grade
made of varying white and white-glazed
Röben ceramic clinker bricks
83
EXEMPLUM No 21
Object
Architects
Façade
Hotel Fahrenheit in Danzig (PL)
Architectural Office Szoty´nski, Danzig
Röben clinker brick NEUMARKT MELBOURNE brick red, smooth
EXEMPLUM
ARCHIVE
EXEMPLUM No 21
Object
Architects
Façade
Object
Supermarket in Offenbach
EXEMPLUM No
21
Architects
Façade
Architekturkontor Faller & Krück, Frankfurt/Main
Röben hand-moulded facing strips MOORBRAND peat-variegated, 14 mm and
DYKBRAND Flemish-variegated, 35 mm, BRICK-DESIGN®, special sort
Object
Architect
Façade
Villa in S’Hertogenbosch (NL)
Hilberink Bosch Architecten, Berlicum (NL)
Röben ceramic clinker OSLO pearl-white, smooth
The entire EXEMPLUM archive is available as a download under
www.roeben.com. The summary provided on these pages only
shows an excerpt.
Villas on the south Rhine banks in Ludwigshafen
SBR GmbH, Römerberg
Röben ceramic clinker OSLO pearl-white, smooth
EXEMPLUM No 21
85
EXEMPLUM
ARCHIVE
Object
Architects
Façade
New waterworks in Warsaw (PL)
Ryszard Sobolewski, Warsaw (PL)
Röben clinker brick NEUMARKT MELBOURNE,
brick red, smooth
Façade
Housing project for the elderly in Hanover
Pruis · Uffelmann Architects
Hamburg/Hanover
Röben clinker brick OXFORD
EX
XEMPLUM No20
Object
Architects
Façade
EX
XEMPLUM No20
86
Object
Architects
Façade
EX
XEMPLUM No 20
Fire station in Wilhelmshaven
Griesemann & Griesemann, Wilhelmshaven
Röben clinker brick CAMBRIDGE
Object
Architects
Façade
EX
XEMPLUM No 19
Detached house in Kamperland (NL)
Bedaux de Brouwer Architecten, Goirle (NL)
Röben ceramic clinker brick FARO,
EX
XEMPLUM No 18
EX
XEMPLUM No 20
Object
Architects
Object
Architects
Façade
Housing estate “Vier Sonnen” in Moscow (RUS)
Lewon Grantovitsch Chatschaturjan
Röben ceramic clinker brick SORRENTO sandwhite and yellow-orange, FARO grey-nuanced,
Röben clinker brick WESTERWALD red, smooth,
Residential complex “Weser Loft” in Bremerhaven
JPS Joost, Philipps, Schulz, Bremerhaven
Röben clinker brick WESTMINSTER
Object
Architect
Façade
EX
XEMPLUM No 16
Façade
Court house in Katowice (PL)
Archistudio Studniarek + Pilinkiewicz,
Katowice (PL)
grey-nuanced, smooth
EX
XEMPLUM No 18
Office building in Frankfurt/Main
Ortner & Ortner Baukunst, Berlin
Röben hand-moulded facing brick WIESMOOR
in three special colours,
EX
XEMPLUM No 18
Object
Architect
Façade
Object
Architects
Object
Architects
Façade
Multi-functional complex in London (GB)
Edward Cullinan Architects, London (GB)
Röben ceramic clinker bricks VERSAILLES,;
EX
XEMPLUM No 18
Detached house in Amsterdam (NL)
Marc Koehler, Amsterdam (NL)
Object
Architect
Façade
ABC-Tower, Cologne, office building with 17 floors
Engelbert Zepp, Erftstadt
Röben ceramic clinker brick OSLO, carrara-white,
EX
XEMPLUM No 12
87
Markus Hartenfels with the distressing roller "croc leather" that he developed.
Andreas Andernach,
Head of the Bannberscheid Plant
Making of: Cro c clinker
The Röben initiative “BRICK-DESIGN ® – Your idea
soft clay. The proprietor Markus Hartenfels developed
makes the stone” calls on the creative minds within
the rolls and their characteristic relief for the stone.
architecture to move away from any stuffy, age-old
perceptions of clinker brick and to develop new ideas
Andreas Andernach, Plant Manager at the Röben
for textures. And Röben creates the matching stone.
factory in Bannberscheid, took charge of smooth
production. Under his watchful eye, high-quality
For instance the croc clinker: A stone whose shiny
clay was taken to fashion the hard-fired clinker brick
facing side resembles crocodile leather. This look is
in typical Röben quality.
so exceptional that it appears almost like a gag. In
actual fact, though, it is ‘just’ a computer simulation,
The apparent opposites in the two
intended to sensitise architects and investors for the
materials, the slinky leather and
opportunities found in clinker surfaces – way beyond
the hard stones, can be
any
created in an acceptably
traditional
preconception
of
their
various
appearances.
elaborate
industrial
process to produce
But the clinker look in croc texture generated so
startling effects. This
much interest that Röben decided to put this idea
should be motivation
into practice. In this case, so-called 'distressing rolls'
enough to make greater
from the Hartenfels Studio in Ransbach-Baumbach/
of all that BRICK-DESIGN ®
Westerwald were used to stamp the texture into the
has to offer.
88
gues’ to select the clinker brick
that suit their ideas. Instead it
is the architect's idea – perhaps
even just a vague perception at
first – that provides the impulse
behind developing an entirely
individual clinker brick.
From the idea to the
unique item
Red Dot Award
®
for the BRICK-DESIGN
campaign
The advertising motifs contextualise in an exemplary and
concrete fashion the creative
flexibility with which architects
can put their inspiration into
practice and portray the creative development process from
the initial flash of genius to
the finished stone. Unique pieces are created in a lively dialogue between the designing
architect and Röben, hence
guaranteeing that the façade
will be one of a kind. There
are plenty of ideas in the ‘Röben laboratory’ – the results
of many years of research and
experiments. Röben joins with
Red Dot Design Award
Winner 2013
Communication Design
architects to develop tools and
methods to influence the colour, surface structure, surface
finishing and form of the clinker brick. Testing, modifying,
discussing, testing again – the
development process is dynamic and has just one rule: We
don't do, “no can do”!
A moving concept, also in
moving images.
Released alongside the advertising campaign, the BRICKDESIGN® films also provide
interesting insight into these
processes. In the form of
workshop discussions, the architects Marc Koehler, Daniel
Spreng and Jim Clemes speak
about creative architecture
using clinker brick. In “BRICKDESIGN® – The Film”, Jacq. de
Brouwer and Prof. Manfred
Ortner talk about the design
options within clinker brick
architecture. See them under:
www.brick-design.de
German Designer Club
Good Design 13 Award
Marketing Communication
The ‘croc stone’ is one of
the campaign stars. Since
then, this digital one-of-akind has become a coveted
material in construction
projects, prompting Röben
to produce a prototype.
German Design Award 2014
Communication Tools
Special Mention
Making the flexibility of
design tangible: The threepage ad with tracing paper
– ever-present working
material in architectural
offices – demonstrates
The architect as a creative designer with almost boundless opportunities – this is what it boils
down to with BRICK-DESIGN®.
And the message of the crossmedia advertising campaign by
Röben, recently rewarded with
the Red Dot Award, is just the
same: Communication Design
2013, the coveted industry
Oscar in the category of Print
Advertising. In the eyes of the
jury, the campaign's design
and the concept almost bring
to life in convincing style the
new flexibility in designing with
brickwork architecture.
The idea fashions the stone.
the dramaturgy from the
architect's muse to the
The prize-winning campaign is
targeted at creative architects,
well-versed in design, and provides them with telling impressions – tailored to their wishes
and building concepts – of the
manifold ideas for individual
stones they could design, and
which are then developed and
produced n direct cooperation
with Röben. The principle behind BRICK-DESIGN® is most
simple: “The idea fashions the
stone”. This means: Architects
do not browse through ‘catalo-
finished stone.
APPLY NOW!
Outstanding brickwork architecture
is rewarded
The internationally renowned architecture prize
is organised for the third time by the initiative
‘Building with Brick’ (Bauen mit Backstein) with
the support of BDA, the Association of German
Architects.
We extend our invitation for you to submit your
project to the
"Fritz Höger Prize for Brickwork Architecture".
No matter whether it is the real Mccoy or a brilliant
detail, brickwork architecture is made to last generations. A total of €10,000 € in prize money is waiting
for the best entries in the categories single-family/
semi-detached homes, apartment blocks, office and
commercial buildings, sport and recreation and public
buildings.
Projects whose façades are made of brickwork and
were completed after 1 January 1999 are eligible
for submission.
Closing date: 30 April 2014
Please find additional information and the complete
competition documents under
backstein.com/architekturpreis
Legal Notice
Publisher:
Röben Tonbaustoffe GmbH
D-26330 Zetel
Concept and Realisation:
Werbeagentur Eddiks & Onken, Oldenburg
Text:
Bellmann, Gröning & Partner, Hamburg
Robert Uhde, Oldenburg
Eddiks & Onken, Oldenburg
Print and Processing:
Prull-Druck, Oldenburg
© Copyright by Röben Tonbaustoffe GmbH 2013
Röben Tonbaustoffe GmbH • Post Office Box 1209 • D-26330 Zetel
Telephone 49 (0)4452 880 • Fax 49 (0)4452 88245 • www.roeben.com • [email protected]
1

Mystical sculptures: Residential tower in Breda (NL) Röben clinker

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