Exciting arrangement

What's exciting about the façade design of the AFE project in Valenciennes and the Institute Pasteur in Lille is not only its colour - a warm red or a cool black - but above all the arrangement of the nonuniform TERRART elements that enclose the individual structures with the exception of the ground floors.

At first sight, the building conjures up a resemblance to an electronic component such as a circuit board. Large-sized panels are combined with wide and narrow baguettes and arranged in an elaborate pattern where nothing is left to chance and the interaction of the various ceramic elements follows a precise plan.

The apertures and gaps identify elements such as window openings, while provision for the necessary supply of light and ventilation is achieved through greater perforation ofn the outer structure.

The ceramic encases both the cubic sections of the building as well as the rounded tower. To avoid undesired ship-lapped edges, the panels and baguettes are suspended from their side.

(c) NBK, Novembre 2009