Project | Centre National d´Incendie et de Secours (CNIS), Luxembourg / LU |
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Architect | Böge Lindner K2 Architekten Partnerschaft, Hamburg / DE Architecture & Environnement S.A., Luxembourg / LU |
Surface | SANDALOR® E6/S140-1 red |
Fabricator | Feldhaus Fenster + Fassaden GmbH & Co. KG, Emsdetten / DE |
Photos | Conné van d‘ Grachten |
The Centre National d’Incendie et de Secours, CNIS, is one of the world’s largest fire and rescue centers. It presents itself as a radiant red, elongated structure, which is interrupted by small and large inner courtyards. The control center as the heart of the facility and the hose tower in the background rise above the rest of the building.
It is made into a visual unit by its red shell of dark red aluminum. The dynamic grid of the facade surfaces is formed in each case by a closed and a glazed section. The glazed areas were equipped with revolving shutters in perforated aluminum sheet, which model the facade depending on the opening state. This creates a constantly changing image from total smoothness in the closed state to a very great plasticity of the facade.
The red tone for the facade of the CNIS was produced using the Sandalor® process. In this process, anodized layers are dyed with lightfast color pigments, and the surface of the aluminum is transformed into a very hard and extremely scratch-resistant aluminum oxide layer. This protects the aluminum from mechanical influences and is resistant to weathering and corrosion.
The particular technical challenge was to precisely match the color shade over the entire sheet and profile area, which covers almost 40.000 square meters. The color rendering can vary simply because of the basic material provided – for example, if it is sourced from different manufacturers. We therefore placed great emphasis on the detailed matching of the red tone.