ArcelorMittal Europe – Flat Products
ArcelorMittal Europe – Flat Products
Founded in 1575, the University of Leiden is one of the world’s oldest universities. But when it came to creating a new building to house the University’s Board, they turned to modular construction and one of the industry’s most modern cladding materials – organic coated Granite® Silky Mat from ArcelorMittal Europe – Flat Products. The finished structure has the appearance of a permanent building, but retains a flexible character which will enable the university to adapt to the modern world.
“The University asked us for a building that would last between 10 and 15 years, but which would blend in with the existing built landscape,” explains Koen Gosens, account manager at De Meeuw – the company charged with designing and building the new offices. “The power of De Meeuw is that we can quickly create such buildings using a modular system.”
Although Granite® Silky Mat has a slightly textured surface, it looks very flat from as little as five-metres away. Compared to other facade materials, the Granite® Silky Mat panels can be relatively thin, notes Guus Hoogland, sales manager for Bijlbouw – the company De Meeuw asked to create the facade: “The panels we used were just 1.5 mm thick. To achieve the required flatness in aluminium we would have needed a thickness of around 2.5 mm. I was also very happy with the price comparison – we saved around 20 percent compared to aluminium.”
Another key advantage of steel was strength. “Steel is stronger,” says Guus Hoogland. “The inherent strength of steel enabled us to specify wider and longer panels – the average was 500 by 3,500 millimetres. The cassettes were 1,200 by 1,500 mm – that’s very large. To achieve these sizes in a material such as aluminium we would have needed material 3 mm thick.”
From as little as five-metres away, Granite® Silky Mat appears perfectly flat
Detail of the Granite® Silky Mat surface showing the rough texture
Bijlbouw contacted ArcelorMittal Construction to create the facade elements, notes Guus Hoogland: “ArcelorMittal’s Tiel factory is very well-equipped so we asked them to manufacture the panels and cassettes. We have worked with them for many years. It was a big advantage to have a single supplier we knew we could rely on.”
The finished facade elements were delivered to the Leiden University site where they were mounted by the Bijlbouw team. “The result is a fantastic looking building which is in keeping with its surroundings,” says Koen Gosens. “The customer is very happy with the result.”
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