Cladding gives residential towers MIX Amsterdam individuality and character

City center Osdorpplein in Amsterdam New West is in full development, with expressive projects such as SuHA and Twins. On the site of the old district office, the finishing touches are also being put on MIX Amsterdam, which consists of six residential towers ranging in height from 29 to about 41 meters. Together, the residential towers will provide space for 528 social, medium and private sector rental apartments around a green courtyard. On the first floor will be stores, offices and art and cultural center ‘Het Verhalenhuis’, with a public parking garage and bicycle storage underneath. A striking feature of MIX Amsterdam is its sustainable and high-end finish. The facade cladding perfectly matches this.

Under the facades of the six residential towers is the signature of WVH Gevelprojecten from Oirschot, which in recent years has developed into the specialized partner in inner-city construction, high-rise buildings and prefab facade construction. “From that expertise, we were involved at an early stage by contractor Heddes Bouw & Ontwikkeling to come up with a prefab facade solution for MIX Amsterdam,” says Robert van Boven, project manager at WVH Gevelprojecten. “In about a year to a year and a half, we jointly arrived at a feasible and makeable solution that combines visual appeal with rapid construction, efficient logistics and a manageable budget. Underlying this solution is approximately 21,351 m2 of prefabricated HSB elements combined with various cladding, which were transported ready-made from our factory in Oirschot to a temporary storage hub in Eindhoven.” The HSB facade elements - measuring on average 6.5 to 7 meters wide and 3 meters high - were then brought to the construction site on demand. “This allowed us to closely follow the high construction pace of MIX Amsterdam,” said Van Boven. “Because the elements were carefully wrapped in foil, they were highly resistant to weather conditions and the high quality remained assured.”

Rich variety of cladding materials

In accordance with De Architecten Cie.“s aesthetic design, WVH Gevelprojecten fitted two residential buildings with HSB elements with aluminum composite cladding and Eternit cement fiber boards, Van Boven says. ”Two buildings were also fitted with STO Ecoshapes cladding and traditional masonry, while aluminum composite cladding combined with 1,020 m2 of profile cladding from ArcelorMittal Building Solutions was chosen for Buildings 5 and 2. In advance, we made a mock-up of the various claddings to convince the municipality of Amsterdam, the building contractor and the real estate parties involved."

Pleasant and solution-oriented

The choice of ArcelorMittal for the profile cladding was a logical one, according to Van Boven. “ArcelorMittal Building Solutions is a well-known name in the facade industry when it comes to decorative metal facade cladding. Moreover, we can fall back on several successfully completed projects, in which cooperation was very pleasant and solution-oriented. In the case of MIX Amsterdam, too, we were very successful. During the preparatory phase, Special Façades Manager Levi Kleinjan visited our site several times to get acquainted and to coordinate the details for this project. Both at the product level and in terms of logistics.” Van Boven also visited ArcelorMittal's office and Experience Center in Tiel, where 180 m2 of unique architectural facades are presented.

High dimensional stability

“When an architect includes a façade profile in his design, the details are not yet fully worked out,” Kleinjan knows. “We picked up that gauntlet together with WVH Gevelprojecten and looked for the right connection details, dimensional pieces and typesetting. But also for the best fitting corrugated depths, colors, gloss levels and fastening. Efforts that ultimately resulted in the delivery of 1,020 m2 of architectural Creneo block profiles with a corrugation depth of 20 mm and in two color coatings. Although this profile looks very symmetrical, its production and assembly make special demands. After all, high dimensional stability is essential for a continuous line and extremely clean facade appearance.”

Harmonious interplay

“The Creneo block profiles are made of 1 mm thick aluminum and coated in two bronze tones that closely mimic the anodization colors C32 (light bronze) and C33 (medium bronze),” says Van Boven. “This creates a beautiful and harmonious interplay with the aluminum composite cladding that we processed in-house into high-quality facade cassettes. We delivered all the design drawings for the facades to ArcelorMittal Building Solutions, on the basis of which they produced the profile cladding exactly to size. Including associated specials and typesetting.” To keep both the assembly and logistics processes manageable, the choice was made to manufacture, deliver and assemble in three badges for residential tower 5 (12 floors) and one badge for residential tower 2 (8 floors). “For the mounting, a visible and solid mounting with screws on an aluminum back construction was chosen. Because the screws are in the same color as the profile cladding, an aesthetic whole is also created in this area.

Comprehensive project

For the facades of MIX Amsterdam, WVH Gevelprojecten engineered and installed no less than 21,351 m2 of prefabricated HSB facade elements, 8,565 m2 of aluminum composite facade cladding, 1,020 m2 of Creneo profile cladding, 2,096 m2 of Eternit cement fiberboards and 1,907 m2 of STO Ecoshapes facade cladding, as well as 6,375 m1 of flashings.