Vertical Stone Facade Harmonizes New Building with its Surroundings
The headquarters of POST Luxembourg is a new architectural highlight for the city – featuring a dynamic versatile natural stone exterior
Old and new combined in style: During the construction of the new POST Luxembourg headquarters, the listed facade of the neighboring 1950s Accinauto building was preserved and extended with a modern facade with a slatted structure.
The new headquarters of POST Luxembourg is clad with metal elements in parts of the building envelope fastened with a substructure system by fischer BWM.
After four years and four months of construction, POST Luxembourg officially inaugurated its new headquarters called Helix in mid-2023, designed by metaform architects of Luxembourg. A nearly 100-foot spiral helix-shaped staircase in the center of the building gives it its name. The headquarters of the national postal and telecoms operator lies in the lively central station district on Place de la Gare. With approximately 4,500 members of staff, POST Luxembourg is one of the country’s key employers. A total of 850 of its staff members have been working in the new build since the beginning of 2023. The nine-story structure with four basement levels is spread across more than 298,000 square feet and includes an atrium, a point of sale for customers and offices, as well as meeting rooms and common areas.
As a zero-emissions building, it has been presented with a platinum certification by the German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB), one of the most prestigious contemporary environmental certifications currently available. In order to fulfil the strict criteria, an ice storage unit and heat recovery system regulate the temperature. PV modules, rainwater recovery, automated light management, natural local materials, air conditioning through active tiles, energy-efficient high- performance glazing and other measures further contribute to the sustainability of the building.
An existing building from the 1950s called Accinauto, located on the corner of Rue d'Éperna, was incorporated into the new structure. Its original listed facade was preserved during the project. The Helix building was built on existing foundations and in the tub, allowing more than 300,000 cubic feet of concrete to be saved. The roof of the Accinauto building is clad with vertical stone slats made of the same light natural stone as the facade of the new structure, resulting in a seamless transition between the two buildings. The vertical stone slats slope from the pitched roof of the Accinauto building to join the vertical facade south of the connecting new building. This wave formation gives the facade a dynamic appearance together with the varying depths of the vertical slat elements. Depending on the lighting, the building looks different and appears to come to life. By echoing the material of the surrounding natural stone facades with a modern look, the building harmoniously fits into its surroundings. Meanwhile, the glazed ground floor opens up to the surrounding space through its transparency. Metal facade elements on parts of the building envelope of the new build provide a modern aesthetic.
Annen plus S.A. (Manternach, Luxembourg), a facade and window construction specialist, was responsible for planning, manufacturing and installing the entire outer envelope, including the stone slats, the outdoor terrace, planters and the internal atrium facade. The building envelope with the existing steel structure was completed with a mullion-transom facade with a surface area of 33,000 square feet. More than 900 timber and aluminum windows were installed on a surface of 57,000 square feet, while a rear-ventilated rainscreen facade was clad with modern metal elements over approximately 23,000 square feet. Expanded metal panels, vertical aluminum panels by Alinel and aluminum composite ACM cassettes were used as cladding materials. In order to fasten the metal facade elements, Annen relied on fischer BWM facade systems. The facade construction specialists carried out the facade with vertical ATK 101 and ATK 100 profiles, as well as stainless steel ATK 100 and ATK 101 wall brackets. fischer SXR 10 x 60 FUS frame fixings made of stainless steel securely anchor the wall bracket of the support system in the supporting structure. About 10,000 wall brackets and 6,500 running meters of anodised ATK 100 profiles were used for the substructure of the rear-ventilated rainscreen facade.
“One of the exceptional technical aspects of the design is its projection of over 350 mm,“ said Stefan Schrag, market manager at fischer BWM Fassadensysteme, who supported the project. “This challenge was overcome with above-average bracket projection. In addition to providing suitable products, we also successfully supported the implementation of the rear- ventilated rainscreen facade with our accompanying range of services and provided structural analysis for all the metal cladding materials.“ The new headquarters of POST Luxembourg is a new architectural highlight set to make an impact far beyond the Grand Duchy, with a versatile cladding and modern facade with a lasting secure hold that makes a key contribution.
Looking for a reprint of this article?
From high-res PDFs to custom plaques, order your copy today!
