Haute Couture in housing: colourful façade cladding in Hannover

In 2012, housing corporation Gartenheim redeveloped a multi-family house, which was built in 1957. Before the renovation, the façades were plastered in a light-beige colour. But not anymore! ‘Haute Couture’, as the multi-unit house in Hannover (Germany) was named, now bursts with colour.

One house, six colours

Günter Haese, CEO of Gartenheim, and architect Larisa Kozjak together developed the idea for the renovation. From the beginning, it was clear to them that they wanted something different than the plain, a dime a dozen building it used to be. Their idea of wrapping the building in a brightly colourful and at the same time warming scarf led to the development of a "knit pattern" for the façade. They chose Rockpanel façade panels in six different RAL colours, which were placed in an unusual colour composition in a light-dark alternation. Almost like true haute couture, hence the name of the building. 

Aesthetically successful knit pattern

Architect Larisa Kozjak is still fascinated by the possibilities offered by the use of Rockpanel Colours: "The façade panels surround the building like a dress. A feast for the senses instead of yet another boring monochrome facade."

"However, when using so many and such strong colours, you have to pay close attention to avoiding the impression of a conceptless, merely colourful confusion." Therefore, nothing was left to chance in the planning of the 700 m2 façade: the use of each of the six colours was precisely planned for a successful overall aesthetics. 

Easy-to-process façade cladding materials

Bernd Voss, owner of Voss Bedachungen, worked with Rockpanel before and has had good experiences. "Rockpanel is a building material I personally appreciate because of its great design on the one hand, but also because of the easy processing. For example, we cut the boards to size on-site with a normal woodworking tool." 

Colourful façade panels, now and in the future

For Günter Haese, it was important to use sustainable materials: "Both the ROCKWOOL insulation and the Rockpanel facade cladding we used are among the most recognized building materials for sustainable construction. That means their eco-balance is right and they are completely recyclable." The Rockpanel façade panels are weather- and UV-resistant, colourfast and low-maintenance.

"This ensures that the facade looks good for decades, which is not always the case for plastered surfaces. In addition, we were able to improve the fire safety of the façade by replacing the existing polystyrene insulation with this combination of ROCKWOOL insulation and Rockpanel façade cladding, increasing the safety of our tenants."