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Heating Plant Nieuw Zuid – Antwerp

Address:
Antwerp, 2000, Belgium

Photographer:
noAarchitecten

Details

Surface area: 90 m2
Active area: 89 m2
Active panels: 48 pieces
Passive area: 1 m2
Passive panels: 2 pieces
Total output: 9784 Wp
Color technology: ColorBlast®

Delivery date: May 2021
Completion date: June 2021
Phase: Completed
Client: E-technics
Owner: Fluvius
Installation: E-technics
Mounting system: AFS Solar


In a nutshell

Nieuw Zuid is a new district along the Scheldekaaien in Antwerp, Belgium, where sustainable technologies and a circular economy are implemented in a sort of living lab. New techniques for sustainable living are being adopted to test how they can decrease the impact of housing on the local environment. Kameleon Solar delivered 48 ColorBlast® colored solar panels for the façade of the prize-winning architectural heating plant in the center of the local park.



Colored solar façade

The heating plant’s rear façade still required finishing. So, given the surrounding district’s sustainability goals and the heating plant’s design, it seemed an ideal opportunity to install Kameleon Solar’s colored solar panels on the façade. The heating plant was designed so as not to disturb the aesthetics of the surrounding park. Hence a part of it was built underground, and the protruding chimney was given a modern and technical design. This juxtaposition between the large structure and the surrounding nature was inspired by some works from artist Joachim Patinir.

Even though the architect intended the rear-side to remain out of the public’s view, Fluvius felt it was essential to maintain the aesthetic ideal of the building by implementing sustainable technologies in an aesthetically responsible way. Therefore, it makes sense they decided to opt for a colored solar façade. 48 ColorBlast® solar panels were manufactured in KSB E1065, one of our lighter gray colors, and Kameleon Solar also delivered two passive elements to fill in the odd spaces. The edges of the solar façade are finished with corner pieces in the same coloring as the modules, resulting in a clean finish. The total power of this energy façade is close to 10 kWp.

About the heating plant

The city of Antwerp is expanding with a new CO2-low residential and business district. The desire is to have the communal heating plant play an important communicative role. The design focuses on a 50-meter-tall chimney that expresses this ecological ideal.

By integrating it into the embankment between the park and the motorway, the thermal power station combines the advantages of the double-sided location. On the park side, the building plays its hospitable role as a visitor center with an observation tower, while on the motorway side, it can take on its function undisturbed as a smooth-running machine. The structure that provides the necessary stability for the chimneys of the boilers is clad with steel plates. The plates are bent in their diagonal. The buckling makes the thin plates stiffer and stronger, as is the case with technical air ducts. The material choice and shape give the tower a technical appearance.

From the motorway side, the tower can be seen with its base. The basic form is reminiscent of the archaic fireplace. From the park, the lines of the paths that cut through the slope are continued in the angular ridges of the tower. The tower becomes a landscape element, like part of a mountain or rock face, as in the sixteenth-century paintings by Joachim Patinir. Landscape, building, technique, and structure merge into one image.

Text in part from noAarchitecten project page



PV Details

Type 1

Size: 1858 x 1000 mm
Weight: 43 kg
Cells: 66 (6 x 11) monocrystalline 6'' cells
Power: 203,8 Wp
Technology: ColorBlast®
Color: KSB E1065


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