Rockpanel exterior cladding gives imposing passive house a clean look

One of the largest certified passive houses in the world can be found in the town of Amay (Belgium). On a very spacious plot, beautifully located on the edge of a forest, Myriam Sendon and Bruno Diliberto built their dream house, designed by architect firm DSH. Rockpanel is one of the proud partners of this remarkable self build project, which is unique in its genre.  

A remarkable passive house 

Myriam Sendon and Bruno Diliberto now live in a quite remarkable home, which has a 40-metre-long facade. Whereas the building’s cuboid-shaped mass offers a lot of privacy at the north facing street side, the south side is very much connected to the outside world. The two overhangs, roof terrace and large glass panes make the house look like a luxury Californian villa. The large windows offer a panoramic view to an open landscape with lush planting. The imposing window on the west side looks out directly at the forest.  

The house has a living area of a massive 688 m². Keeping the energy consumption low was a very important aspect for the owners, which is why they decided to use the passive house standard.  

Sustainable exterior cladding from Rockpanel Colours 

Rockpanel is one of the ‘premium partners’ in this unique project. For the facade, the owners used 385 m2 Rockpanel Colours 8 mm boards, in the colour RAL 7039. One aspect that played a major role in their choice, is that the boards are very sustainable and can contain up to 50% of recycled materials. The boards are insensitive to moisture, low-maintenance and last for over 50 years. All those factors highly contribute to the owners’ wish to create a very durable passive house.  

The ease of use and installation was also one of the decisive factors – co-owner Bruno Diliberto installed the light-weight boards together with a team of carpenters. The owners name some other advantages: “Rockpanel offers excellent value for money and great service, and the bending and wear resistance of the boards are very good too. Moreover, you can use standard tools to cut and adjust the boards. We’ve mounted them with screws in the same RAL colours, which makes them semi-invisible.”  

Equita Construction 

Creating their own passive house in Amay inspired Bruno en Myriam Diliberto to establish their own company: Equita Construction. The company’s goal is to help others realising their passive house in a cost-efficient way. The company works with a set quality standard, based on unique specifications. They will use the same partners every time. Therefore, all ‘Advanced Houses’ by Equita Construction will be cladded with Rockpanel products.