Ultra-thin façade cladding gives Zeeduin a slightly floating effect

The Zeeduin renovation project is situated on the corner of Franslaan with Lefebvrestraat in Nieuwpoort. After a few decades, the façades - covered with relatively thin prefab silex concrete elements - showed concrete damage due to carbonation. The client and architect opted for a total renovation for the façades, with 4 mm thick DKTN Slim plates by Cosentino, glued on a ventilated aluminium support structure.

The apartment building dates back to the 1970s and has 6 above-ground floors. The gallery terraces, made of in situ concrete with the floor slab running from the inside to the outside without thermal interruption, were fitted with a mortar-bed tiling. Water penetration caused concrete damage and general degradation of the concrete coating. The absence of façade and roof insulation also contributed to a total renovation.

The architect opted for a dark-coloured base (the ground floor) and a light superstructure to give the floors a more floating effect. “For the ground floor, we opted for a coating in fired blue bluestone, a good match with the small grey speckles, the white mass of the Nayla type and the terrace floors in a grey tone,” says Deconinck about the choice for the DKTN colour “Nayla” (white speckled).

“Thanks to its properties, DKTN delivers high-quality, technical performance compared to other existing surfaces: highly scratch-resistant, frost-resistant and thaw-resistant, and resistant to salty air and UV rays. Colour stability, dimensional stability and pressure resistance are high. With a fire reaction class A2, s1-d0, DKTN can even be used for tall buildings,” says Stephanie Bevernagie of Cosentino.