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Images: Copyright Rob Hoekstra.

Intuitive calligraphy.The intuitive sketch by Ilona Lénárd has been wrapped around the exterior of the housing blocks, including the roof. The view on the roof is important since the residents of the remaining parts of the original F-Zuid high rise apartment building has a view on the roofscape. The sketch unifies the 3d facade landscape with the 3d roofscape. The facade is composed of 6 mm cold formed aluminum plates, each of them unique in its 3d "impressive" imprint pattern. Using ship building technology these plates are prefabricated by ONL and Centraal Staal using the File 2 Factory process. The technique used for the connecting roofscape is on the contrary adding 3d ridges on top of the insulation, forming an "expressive" displacement pattern. The nature of the 3d sketch is that of 3d calligraphy. At the start of the calligraphic gesture the imprint is weak, only two centimeter deep. At the point of the greatest pressure, the impression is at its maximum of five centimeter. The varying depth of the sketched lines combined with the rounded corners gives the natural aluminum facade a touch of smoothness. The effect on the architecture is that the artist is leaving her personal traces on the outer surface of the housing blocks. The effect for the urban block is that the street facade has a unique unified character unrivaled by any repetitive system of mass-produced facade panels. The effect for the inhabitant is that each house is unique. No second one has the same 3d impression on its facade.

Customized composite facade panels. While most of the panels are repetitive in their overall size and the size of the openings for the windows, the 3d impression is wrapped around the whole urban block, independent of the size of the individual aluminum panels. Each panel has a unique imprint and is produced according to a CNC procedure. The sketch of visual artist Ilona Lénárd is parametrized by the ONL engineers and is communicated through a 3d IGES file with the manufacturer Centraal Staal in Groningen (NL). ONL parametrizes the sketch using the ProEngineer software that allows for a fast and interactive adjustment of the 3d impression during the design phase. Artist and engineer are facilitated to work closely together on the parametric platform. Parametric design is basically building relations. Relations between the trajectory of the sketch, the strength of the impression and the width of the impression. All changes in power pressure of the calligraphy are translated into smooth transitions from shallower to deeper depths of the impression.

File to Factory production of the panels. The panels themselves are composed of 6 mm high quality aluminium used like big oversized tiles. The entire 3d facade is unfolded to a 2d surface using the NUPAS-CADMATIC system at Numeriek Centrum in Groningen (NL). This surface also includes the outlines of the single panels and the exact position of the bolt-holes for the connecting construction. The panels are then nested in the mother plate and cut to their individual size. The individual plates are now cold formed into their original 3d surface as to feature the unique 3d impression which trajectory continues smoothly from one panel into the other. The panels are mounted on the facade using an eight centimeter open space. As the impression has a maximum depth of only five centimeters this leaves three centimeter of space for the mounting construction.

goto Building process for more pictures of F Side

Date: 2007

Site: Amsterdam Bijlmermeer

Size: 53 apartments

design: ONL [Oosterhuis_Lénárd]

Lead designers: Kas Oosterhuis, Ilona Lénárd

Project architect: Cas Aalbers, Gijs Joosen,

Design team: Marthijn Pool, Ronald Brandsma, Henrike Michler, Paulina Gurak, Rafael Seemann, Barbara Janssen, Michael Gorczynski, Tom Hals, Stefan Schneider, Rena Logara

Client: Delta Forte
Facade: Centraal Staal - ONL