The creative minds of the BVL architecture agency used AQUAPANEL^® to create a distinctive façade, featuring diamond-like facets that evoke the building’s breath-taking Alpine background.

Sallanches Aquatic Centre is a 650-capacity, 3,700 square-metre facility with four indoor pools, a wellness area, a solarium and spacious exterior beach areas. The architects’ brief was for a building of exceptional aesthetic, technical and environment quality that remained within a strict budget. Thinking outside the box, they imagined an unconventional façade with steep, rocky elements inspired by Mont Blanc itself.

“We chose AQUAPANEL^® Cement Board Outdoor for its price, finish and ease of use,” recalls BVL architect Elia-Antonio Tannoury. “We considered using composite glass cement, but it would have been too expensive.” Another advantage of AQUAPANEL^® was its adaptability for creative uses. “The facets echoing Mont Blanc were not easy to achieve,” continues Elia-Antonio, “but after two prototypes, we had the result we wanted.”

Implementation of the façade started with the installation of a metal structure. The AQUAPANEL^® boards were then delivered, cut to size on site, and fixed to the structure using Knauf’s dedicated accessories – with no pre-drilling required. A rendered mineral finish was then applied directly over the whole surface of the façade, including the diamond-like facets. Thanks to the rapid availability of the materials and their ease of use, not to mention Knauf’s high-level technical support both at the planning stage and on site, the façade was completed on schedule in early 2020.

Knauf Aquapanel^® can help take all of your concepts to higher peaks. Get in touch to see what we can do for you.