MEDITE EXTERIOR MDF FACADE FOR FRANCE’S FIRST ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY 4-STAR APARTMENT HOTEL
22nd December 2009 - Medite Exterior
Medite Exterior wood panels cover the facades of the new Relais Spa Val d'Europe in, the first environmentally friendly 4-star apartment hotel.
The new Relais Spa Val d'Europe, designed by Belgian agency DDS & Partners Architectes* and built by Bouygues Construction, is a 4-star business apartment hotel (tourism category) located in the Business District in Chessy, Seine-et-Marne, France. It houses 220 short-term rental apartments over 18,000 m² and 6 floors, with a further 2 levels are used for underground parking. Top-of-the range catering and leisure facilities are offered on the ground floor, including a brasserie, a 1,100m² spa and a swimming pool. For this first-of-its-kind “Aparthotel”, the architects used natural stone, plaster and wood for the facades, and all wood fittings were made using Coillte Panel Products FSC certified Medite Exterior MDF wood panels. Taking three years to complete, the hotel will be ready at the end of 2009.
Located only two kilometres away from Disneyland Resort Paris, Relais Spa Val d'Europe is in line with the Haussmannian architectural style defined by the development planning targets set out by Disneyland Paris and the urban planning and architecture policies of the local planning and development authority (EPA) of Marne la Vallée.
Designed by Belgian agency DDS & Partners Architectes and built by Bouygues Construction, the project aims at innovating in terms of rational use of energy. The building is the result of an environmental approach based on the French HQE (high quality environmental standard), and gives architectural expressivity to wood, a building material with a truly low environmental footprint.
FSC certified Medite Exterior wood panels, used for its facades, fulfil this requirement, as they are designed for non-stressed external applications and are environmentally friendly, whilst still providing optimal quality and performance. Relais Spa Val d'Europe also uses 140m² of thermal solar panels to produce hot water for the washrooms, and has its own system to collect rainwater for the lavatories and to water the gardens.
SMAB, a company specialised in interior fittings and woodwork, was chosen for the external work on the four facades. The facade treatment once again gives expressivity to the building materials, in the treatment of a natural stone base on the first two levels, a main body made up of two connected levels and one single level, and one level set back to form a crown, all made out of coated concrete. SMAB laid down 360 modules – made up of a total of 700 15mm, 18mm and 22mm Medite Exterior panels 1.50m to 3.70m wide and 1.10m high.
Medite Exterior panels were chosen for the external woodwork on the facades, and meet the specifications, in particular in terms of quality requirements, as they are durable and resistant to strong temperature variations, humidity and water. Medite Exterior panels meet the requirements of the new European reaction-to-fire classification, category Euro Class D.
On two of the facades, SMAB also worked on the canopies and the column covers on the whole length of the building, on the balconies and the fascias of the two atrium windows.
The woodwork, as well as the bays and certain aprons of the atriums of the two courtyards, are made out of wood or thermolacquered aluminium. They are coated with grey paint. The woodwork incorporates raised patterns, which create depth and rhythm effects which are different from the treatment of the full parts. Closeness to nature is also expressed through the use of wood for other elements of the architectural composition, as it does not contradict the architectural approach of the urban environment. It is expressed in the loggia and the pavilions of the courtyards and the screen walls of the bays opening onto the spa area.
The aprons between the 3rd and 4th floor and the 5th and the 6th floor in the body of the front facade use Medite Exterior panels, in comparison to the other facade levels such as the stone base and fascias. Wood panel aprons were fitted on the 5th floor, under the lintels.
The woodwork required great precision and meticulous cutting, assembling and mechanical gluing of the Medite Exterior wood panels, as well as for their final, painted treatment. Each piece of wood was painted separately then assembled and integrated into a pattern of raised and superimposed panels.
Project: 220 apartments over 6 floors, with a spa, a swimming pool and a brasserie on the first floor. 2 levels of underground parking.
Surface: 18,000 m² - Net floor area: 11,758 m² - Underground: 4,460 m²
Location: Rue Hergé in Chessy (Seine-et-Marne, France)
Delivery: end of 2009
Constructor: Bouygues Construction
Project owner: SNC Relais Spa
Design architecture: DDS & Partners Architectes (*)
External woodwork: SMAB
* 2004 design, formally known as “Atelier d'Art Urbain”.
