Terreal enameled cladding adorns the Ellipse Tower of Amiens (80) for a kinetic architecture in verticality

Built at the bottom of the Alsace Lorraine boulevard, near the Somme and in the heart of the ZAC Gare La Vallée, this building stands out completely from its environment by its size and its unique shape.

Adorned with TERREAL's Maestral® cladding in a matte enamel finish, the facade soars in a harmonious contemporary gradient and catches the eye in the middle of an alignment of workers' houses in brick: the famous Amiens.

A matt enamelled cladding for an ultra design gradient

The will of the architects, in charge of the renovation of the Ellipse Tower in Amiens, was to create a building whose visual perception is constantly changing, like a kinetic work. They chose a matt enamel finish for the Maestral® cladding from TERREAL.

The anchoring of the building to the ground is symbolized by a dark color with lower levels enamelled in black. The gradient then becomes clearer in a light gray, then goes up the floors, to finish with a luminous white which merges with the Picardy sky.

And to liven up the facade and bring a touch of color, the windows, whose slightly protruding frames are in lacquered sheet metal, are fitted with green canvas exterior blinds.

A contemporary reinterpretation of terracotta in a vertical architecture

For this project, TERREAL used the V-Clip® system, the technical advice of which made it possible to meet the particular request of the architects, the installation of the cladding vertically on a curved wall. Made up of a high-performance steel wire clip that snaps onto a horizontal rail, it has reduced the joint to 8 mm thick and increased the perception of continuity.

The architects wanted a thin, narrow and long element that contributes to the verticality of the building and matches its curved facades. Here, the impression of roundness is accentuated by the unique shape of the Maestral® cladding, whose rounded edges break with the traditional linearity of the cladding.

By choosing this shingle, the architects finally proposed a contemporary reinterpretation of the terracotta brick already very present in Amiens.

Maxime Barbier, architect of the project explains: “Even in a very tight budget, our desire is always to create a living architecture. Result that we obtained here thanks to the constant variations due to the blinds, lowered or not, and to the changing effects of the cladding of enamelled terracotta under the light. "

Production identity card

• Program : Tourist residence with 146 apartments, from studios to three rooms
• Client: Vinci real estate
• Subject mastery : SCAU Architecture - Maxime Barbier, Bernard Cabannes, Luc Delamain, François Gillard
• SHON: 5700m²
• Delivery Date : 2014
• TERREAL materials used: Maestral® cladding in matt white, light gray and black enamel
• Facade laying company: Mauger Father and son

www.terreal.com