A new, iconic façade
Rockpanel has grown spectacularly in the past few years, resulting in a strong demand for more capacity. This growth begins with a new paint and coating line, where our Rockpanel façade cladding gets their unique appearance. The new coating line is equipped with advanced technology, including automatic paint storage, partially automated paint preparation, and product handling. Finished boards are automatically stacked, wrapped and prepped for shipment. An automated climate-control system maintains a consistent paint temperature, ensuring optimal paint viscosity and delivers an even higher quality finish.
The façade promoting the company’s core values was of the utmost importance to Jeroen Ebus, Rockpanel’s Managing Director. “The façade, which tells Rockpanel’s origin story, had to connect seamlessly with the current structure. It was also important that the façade blends into the industrial environment of the factory, while still allowing creativity to stand out. We wanted to use our own products in this design to show our customers what Rockpanel can achieve and to convince them to choose Rockpanel. Inspiring people by telling our own story was the goal behind the new façade.”
Three stories intertwined in one design
Jelena Ivanisevic, Technical Support Manager at Rockpanel and a trained architect, made the final design for the new façade. “The design interweaves three distinct stories into a single visual narrative, with sustainability as the central theme. On the left, large and small circles symbolize Rockpanel’s circularity, highlighting its recyclability, use of recycled content, and the reuse of Rockpanel boards,” Ivanisevic explains. “The façade radiates design freedom and shows the versatility of Rockpanel: perforations, bending, 3D elements, a wide range of designs, integrated lighting, and engravings. Behind the engraved lines, the boards weather due to exposure to weather conditions, such as sunlight and rain.”
However, Rockpanel’s story can also be read from the opposite direction. “Starting from the right-hand side to the left, the façade symbolises Rockpanel’s origin story: originating from lava, to the production process in which the ingredients are added, until they become Rockpanel products, and in the end the recycling process, in which products are re-used, keeping this circle complete.
The left side’s circles also depict a volcano from a top-down view. Alternatively, the design can be seen as representing the stone wool spinner, the starting point for all ROCKWOOL products.
Local and renowned facade builder Warebo made Ivanisevic’s design come true.
“First, we built a mock-up, making it possible for us to see the possibilities and what wouldn’t be feasible. Our next step was entering the drawings into the machine, milling and cutting the boards to the exact size. Using the aerial platform, we continued to install the boards on the façade,” Bart van Bussel, Warebo’s director, explains.
This wasn’t the first time Warebo installed Rockpanel boards. Two men carefully installed the large boards and created a beautiful façade. Van Bussel continues: “We have been installing Rockpanel boards for over 25 years, so we are quite experienced. Working together with Rockpanel went smoothly. If we had any questions, they quickly provided a solution and we also made suggestions ourselves. Installing Rockpanel was easy and we didn’t encounter any problems.”
