A jewel box as a new community centre for Mesen

Jewel Box

The new community center is located at the end of a dead-end side street of Ketelstraat on a sloping residual plot, surrounded on three sides by back gardens and on the fourth side is a recent daycare building. Stefan: "I wanted to upgrade the surroundings, so I tried to turn it into a jewel box, placed on a pedestal protruding above the sloping site. Hence I chose Rockpanel Metals Yellow Gold as the cladding."

The architect made the choice of Rockpanel Metals Yellow Gold not only based on aesthetics. "I like working with Rockpanel because of, in addition to the large choice of surface finishes, the material stability. You don't have to take into account how the panels work, and that's a rewarding feature."

Indiscriminate shapes

To create additional playfulness, Rockpanel was installed with random, angled lines. A challenge for contractor Borra, says Geert Borra. "Usually they are straight boards. In this case, each board had a different shape with angled joints. Cutting out and drilling holes in the panels had to be done with the CNC to ensure accuracy."

Orientation towards the sun

In addition to the striking golden Rockpanel boards, the community centre is also unique thanks to its sloping roofline. The roof runs high at the entrance side and low on the terrace side, creating a strong trapezoidal-shaped look that can also be experienced in the interior space. "In addition, inside we paid a lot of attention to the soft and natural use of materials with fixed furniture made of plywood, birch and soft red visible permanent brickwork with alternating layer heights," says Stefan.

The outdoor terrace and outdoor landscaping are important aspects of the community centre for Stefan. "I felt it was important to have an outdoor terrace for both use and experience as well as orientation. The building is oriented in a way that the sun is mainly on the terrace side. On that same side, we have also created maximum openness so that there is room for light where the awning provides an additional formal accent."

Variable timing

Stefan aimed to create a building as simple but expressive as possible. He looks with pride at the finished project and the cooperation with the cladding contractor also went smoothly. "Installing Rockpanel with randomly angled seams was a big challenge. The contractor brought that to a successful conclusion. The timing had to be adjusted a few times, but contractor Borra responded quickly to that. It was a very pleasant collaboration," concludes Stefan.