Changing sustainable thinking
A new ultra-low energy school building will literally reflect the seasons
Les Trèfles (The Clovers) is a brand new primary school in Anderlecht, Belgium, featuring award-winning design by architectural firm Árter of Brussels. The new school features an inventive layout of four partially overlapping circles.
Thermal performance was a priority, so the school was designed to be highly sustainable with low energy use1, using construction materials with low lifecycle environmental impacts. This enabled energy to be saved by maintaining optimum indoor temperature and climate.
For the architect, the choice of Rockpanel Chameleon and Rockpanel Natural for the façade cladding was easy, since they are produced from compressed natural basalt which offers not only great thermal performance and high energy efficiency, but also robustness and long-term sustainability.
Rockpanel Chameleon also worked perfectly with the architect’s design concept of seasonal change. The colour of the boards varies slightly depending on natural or spot lighting, the board’s angle and the viewing point.
The constructors praised the easy fitting of Rockpanel boards and their invisible fixing which creates a clean and aesthetic look. The boards were also engraved to provide signage around the school building.
The thermal performance of the school has not only improved but also now has a highly original design with an important BRE Green Guide A+ rating for sustainability, and a very high fire safety classification– crucial for a large school of 750 pupils.
Les Trèfles seamlessly blends educational innovation, sustainability and attractive architecture, and the design has made both its pupils and stakeholders proud. This impressive long lifetime, low maintenance structure will be enjoyed for generations to come.
1(Only 12kWh/m2 per year versus 15 kWh/m2 Passive, 50 kWh/m2 Low, 100 kWh/m2 New, 150 kWh/m2 Modern, 200 kWh/m2 Old and 300 kWh/m2 Leaky)
Project location
Les Trèfles School
Anderlecht
Belgium
