CEPEZED
the façade builder, which was no small task. The facade is largely
transparent, which makes for strong sightlines and relations
between the inner and outer world. Vertical slat strips can be
opened for natural ventilation. The down-to-earth, modern building
strikingly and interestingly contrasts with the historic existing
buildings. This also renders it illustrative for the way cepezed
approaches the combination of new and historic construction.
CLIMATE
square meters of lettable floor area each. In addition to being
demountable and remountable, the structure is also super
lightweight: the use of materials is kept to an absolute minimum.
The building is also completely flexible in its arrangement, has no
gas connection and is equipped with heat recovery. The ground
floor is made of poured concrete, but otherwise, all building
components are modular and dry mounted. Supreme simplicity
has been an important principle in the design.
STEEL, WOOD, AND GLASS
Building part D(emountable) consists of a rationally optimized
building kit with a steel, prefabricated and extremely slender
main supporting structure. The structural floors and roof are
made of lightweight wooden Laminated Veneer Lumber (LVL)
elements that are also prefabricated. These have a compact height
and the installations are integrated within them. The ribs of the
LVL elements remain fully visible and are part of the building’s
aesthetics. The screed is biobased and consists of gravel-like
granules in a cardboard honeycomb structure with gypsum
fiberboards on top. The entire screed is dry and easily removable
again. The PVC finishing floor is made of partly recycled PVC.
The building has no window frames: the double-layer insulating
glass is mounted directly on the steel structure. For that reason,
the steel construction is provided with welded screw profiles. The
steel builder had to comply with the very limited tolerances of
The entire building functions as one large fire compartment. As a
result, little material was required for fire-resistant measures; only
the stairwell has a fire-resistant partition. All climate control works
on air. On each floor, air conditioners that also take care of heating
are integrated in the ceiling. In addition, the building is equipped with
a heat exchanger. Roller blinds provide sun and light protection.
INTEGRAL PROCESS
Construction took place in an extremely short period: just over
half a year. With the positioning of the elevator shaft, the building
even topped out in an hour after the works started. The complete
structure of steel skeleton and wooden floors was put together in
three weeks. This was possible, among other things, because of an
integrated process with thoughtful preparation and close, integrated
cooperation between the various cepezed disciplines; from the
project developers to the architecture and interior designers
and of course the implementation coordinators. With short
communication lines, all specialists are housed under one roof,
which has not only improved the efficiency of the process, but also
the level of coordination and thus the quality.
“
Building D(emountable) has exactly the same
footprint as the existing building that was no
longer good and was demolished
PAGE 41 - ARCHETECH