Big roll for fiber cement panels. Living with Allure in Leidsche Rijn 

In Utrecht Leidsche Rijn, close to the city center and right by the railroad stands Allure; a characteristic and industrially designed apartment complex with 60 rental and owner-occupied apartments and a semi-underground two-story parking garage. Designed by Klunder Architects, Allure stands out with its black brick facades, combined with a metallic gold "television frame" and striking fresh green cladding of Swisspearl fiber cement panels.

Klunder Architects has years of experience in designing residential towers and has put its signature to high-profile projects such as DUIN in Almere, the Homerustoren in Almere, Hogekwartier in Amersfoort and Gare du Nord in Amsterdam. On the Utrecht Leidsche Rijn railroad line, in addition to Allure, she designed Amulet and a large part of the low-rise district behind it. 

"Allure is part of the high-rise section on the railroad zone. The design takes into account not only the adjacent buildings, but also the manifestation towards the railroad," says Paul Cardinaal, project architect at Klunder Architects. "In this project we collaborated with the municipality of Utrecht and its supervisor, who used a butterfly as a metaphor. In accordance with the butterfly's fluttering motion, the buildings had to be given different heights, with additional height accents here and there. In our design, this led, among other things, to the TV frame, which sticks out head and shoulders in front of the building line. But also to staggered entrance doors, setbacks in the side facades, countable floors and a stepped structure from the low-rise buildings behind towards the railroad."

Noiseless indoor area

With its location on the railroad tracks, the apartments at the heart of the building had to be protected from the train noise, he says. "For this, we cleverly used the U-shape of the building. Instead of an outdoor area on the rail/front side, an indoor area was created on the soundproofed rear and side. 

Where necessary, glass screens were applied, allowing residents to experience optimal living comfort."

Wow effect

For the use of color, Klunder Architects looked in particular at how the high-rise buildings relate to one another. "Based on this, a solid, dark hue was chosen," Cardinaal said. "The facades are raised in black masonry. In addition, to make the big gestures really pop out of the building, we looked for a robust material that we could apply both in the TV frame and in the interior area (the gallery). A frivolous metallic gold frame immediately attracts the attention of passing travelers, while a playful frame division and fresh green Swisspearl fiber cement panels provide an attractive contrast to the black brick on the exterior. The Swisspearl panels also create a wow effect in the interior area. The special green color brings the necessary softening in this regard."

Translucent and expressive

"In the past, we have already used the Swisspearl fiber cement panels extensively in projects," Cardinaal says. "We also have extensive documentation on all products and colors, which allowed us to make a good and quick choice. Especially the robustness of the material, in combination with the wide range of colors, convinced in this project. We chose Carat panels, which are distinguished by a translucent and lightly pigmented surface. A light flame also gives the panels distinct expressiveness. The panels are colored throughout, so seams are not accentuated. All the attention goes to the panels as a whole." A total of approximately 1,070 m² of Carat panels were applied. Whole panels were used as much as possible for the TV frame and interior area. "Fine-grained panel seams here provide the desired horizontality and rhythm."

Fire class B

"Swisspearl's facade panels will soon be listed with a Category 1 product card in the National Environmental Database and by themselves possess fire class A2," says Dennis Schoonemeijer, project consultant at Swisspearl. "In combination with the insulation and facade construction, the Carat panels in the Allure project meet fire class B, based on NEN-EN 13501-1. Because of the wind load, the panels are fixed in the TV frame with screws, which are painted in the color of the panels. In the interior area, where there is less wind load and where residents walk closer to the panels, mechanical fastening was chosen. This allowed the panels to be assembled more quickly. Thanks to different panel sizes, the floors are clearly legible."