Lively Rockpanel Woods facade makes multifunctional centre fit in its surroundings

Clever facade design 

The new building offers room for any social activity in the village. Next to a new 8-metre-tall sports hall, the centre includes two other large rooms suitable for several activities and a spacious meeting room for the community. The biggest challenge for the architects was to make sure the new centre would match the village character. Maassen: “In order to keep the complex small, despite its dimensions, we have placed the sports hall as far away from the existing construction as possible. We also used a lot of glass in the low-rise section that connects the sports hall and the existing cafe building, so that the entire complex does not feel like one solid block.” 

Beautiful timber effect facade  

The sports hall is clad with four Rockpanel Woods designs in combination with vertical, black hardwood bankirai slats. Maassen: “We are extremely happy with the wooden facade that we have been able to produce thanks to Rockpanel Woods. The four oak tones we used give the facade a barn-like appearance that fits well into the environment. The lively wood structure of the facade boards, interspersed with a vertical black batten, also makes the facade appear much smaller than a flat facade. We have emphasized this optical effect by slightly curving the roof on both sides, so that there is a natural transition to the surrounding houses.” 

An important advantage of the Rockpanel facade cladding is the wide variety of designs and colours, says Maassen: “This gave us complete freedom to discover the right colour combinations and to turn our creative ideas into reality. On top of that, we have the certainty that it will still look like we envisioned it years later. The Rockpanel Woods claddingis finished with a water-based coating, which protects against UV radiation, dirt and weather influences and ensures optimum colour fastness. The colours of the boards remain beautiful for a very long time, with only a minimum of maintenance.” 

Rockpanel's easy processing was also appreciated, says Bart Jagtenberg of the Gommers contracting company. “It is a very stable material by nature, which does not expand or shrink due to moisture or temperature fluctuations. This makes it quite easy to create a beautiful interplay of lines with narrow seams.” 

Combining exterior cladding and CLT 

The sports hall has a construction of cross laminated timber (CLT): solid boards that consist of three to seven layers of wood glued together.  

Maassen: “We used this construction method in an earlier project and were pleasantly surprised by the feeling that such buildings give inside. CLT gives an interior a very natural look and that was exactly what this sports hall asked for.” 

“The CLT panels are insulated with 240mm thick ROCKWOOL insulation material,” says Jagtenberg. “We then applied a ventilated wooden substructure (Facafix system) on the CLT panels, on which we mounted Rockpanel facade boards. By using this system. we managed to create a great facade in no time and at a competitive price. And it is guaranteed to last for years.” 

Flawless collaboration 

Wouter Mellema, account manager of supplier XLWOOD, looks back on a flawless collaboration with all parties. “From the start of the project, we consulted closely to find the best solutions for a high-quality building, especially for the facade. For example, prior to the installation, we provided on-site training on working with spacer screws, while the Rockpanel team assisted the contractor with advice and assistance regarding the installation of the facade panels on the sub-construction.  

We delivered the four different colours of Rockpanel Woods to the construction site, cut in three different widths. As a result, construction ran smoothly, and the end result was exactly what we all had in mind. The multifunctional center is large enough to provide the residents of Valburg with everything they will need in the coming decades. And thanks to the smart facade design, the building is still in perfect balance with the environment.”