BOLD AND CLAD ON FOUR SIDES.

Made-to-measure elements clad with brick slips provided pioneering clinker finish work in terms of design flexibility, time efficiency and cost-effectiveness on the multi-award-winning faCade of the „Cross“.

The architects of Hawkins & Brown had considerable design freedom – but the time and cost optimisation pressure for this challenging residential building was also considerable. Not an optimal prerequisite for a construction clad on four sides with clinker brick slips and exhibiting similarities to a work of art, which is also the UK’s highest hybrid cross-laminated timber (CLT) structure over 10 floors.

But the clinker finish lattice screen was an integral part of the architecture and the core stylistic element for achieving an interplay of connection and demarcation from neighbours and a nature reserve. A solution was sought and found. With black Ströher clinker brick slips Zeitlos “kohleglanz“ in the NF format and tailor-made prefabricated Gebrik SR70-90 panels as 3-sided U-elements and L-shaped corners, the lattice could be sheathed completely and cost-effectively.

Thanks to the minimal weight and the flat packaging of the numbered module parts, these could be stored on the roof in a space-saving way with the existing crane. This helped with adherence to the timetable and was not only much more cost-effective than cladding prefabricated concrete beams and columns on site, it also did not require any additional structural support.

Approximately 1,700 m² of Aquarian Gebrik insulating brick facade system was assembled on site in four months and represented a triumph in terms of efficiency and aesthetics.