KaaiDuurzaam – Roosendaal

A new name, look, and purpose for the building

The former EKP building, a property of Roosendaal’s municipality dating back to the 1980s, was reopened in 2021 after being empty for more than ten years. It was renamed KaaiDuurzaam, to represent the new social purpose identified for this location: a sustainability hub for the city of Roosendaal. The pun is very much intended, as KaaiDuurzaam is pronounced kei duurzaam which in Dutch means “very sustainable”!

Councilor Klaar Koenraad started a sustainability movement and looked for front-running companies, educational institutions, organizations, and residents to boost the sustainability of Roosendaal. In 2022, the KaaiDuurzaam Award was started to come up with ideas for a sustainable appearance of the exterior of the building, focusing on 10 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals defined by the UN. Zone Zuid Architecten and wUrck could not miss the chance to contribute to the new look of the building by providing, amongst others, a solar facade concept that symbolizes the sustainability commitment of the building on its exterior.

A ColorBlast Design solar facade as a sustainable statement

Along with art and greenery, giving a new look to the facade was a priority in line with the beautification process of the building. Not only did the building’s interior need to be repurposed, but its new social role had to be represented artistically on the exterior, too. So, Kameleon Solar’s ColorBlast Design was chosen to realize an artistic solar installation on the southwest facade, the most visible one.

Thanks to the in-house developed design translation software for multi-colored PV panels, Kameleon Solar translated wUrck and Zone Zuid’s design to the solar panel and manufactured 12 rectangular ColorBlast Design PV panels that depict a detailed image of a chameleon. What better symbol for a sustainability message to spread across the Roosendaal community?

Kameleon Solar worked in close collaboration with Zone Zuid and wUrck and provided a reliable network of partners, from facade builders RED Building, to TULiPPS and BIPV.world, who provided the mounting system, and E-Technics for the electrical engineering and installation.

On the way to a more sustainable Roosendaal

The municipality of Roosendaal is focused on growing towards a sustainable city, and has a dedicated website for sustainable Roosendaal and a local energy-saving portal for this purpose.
In the near future, the KaaiDuurzaam building in Roosendaal will be given new life through a mix of housing for young people, entrepreneurship, art, culture, and creativity.

The design of the solar facade for this public building is a sustainability statement. We are happy that the eye of our Kameleon is there to watch over a more sustainable Roosendaal. Demonstrating how attractive solar facades can be an inspiration for local areas. Like a colorful postal stamp, it sends the building off to its new sustainable phase.

At Kameleon Solar, we strive to contribute to a future where cities are powered by aesthetic solar panels integrated into the buildings. This time, we start from a more sustainable Roosendaal, with a team of partners that collaborated for a top-notch project.