At Axalta, it always feels like a privilege to help bring to life the visions of architects and designers – here are some of our favourite architectural features from recent projects.

YCone La Confluence, Lyon, France

Ateliers Jean Nouvel

Colour brings joy to cities and we particularly like the soft shades of this residential tower in Lyon, France. 

But the design feature that really grabs us here are the inside-outside spaces of every apartment. Jean Nouvel describes these thresholds as ‘intermediary spaces’, saying: “People will live there, have their breakfast, dine, pass by, install flowerpots…”.

Formed from the gap between two skins of facade with juxtaposing geometries, the spaces bring depth and human activity to the building’s elevations. The powder coating here is Alesta® AP High Gloss.

Beringen City Hall, Beringen, Belgium

Jaspers-Eyers Architect and UAU Collectiv

We’re all for expression in architecture and particularly admire the striking features of this new facade in Beringen, Belgium. 

Part of the new City Hall campus, the building’s bronzed canopy of lace-like brise soleil is supported on expressive vertical fins – not only bringing dappled shade to glass-walled elevations but helping a new building respond to the heritage and character of its historic neighbour.

“Depending on the position of the sun, the joinery takes on a dark brown, almost wood colour or, alternatively, a radiant golden colour,” says architect Bert Smets of the aluminium framework. The anodised-look coating is from the The SuprAnodic Collection of the Alesta® SD SuperDurable range. 

Möbius Towers, Brussels, Belgium

Assar Architects 

With smart facades becoming ever smarter, Assar Architects’ sculptural Möbius sister towers in Brussels respond intelligently to their orientations – optimising comfort for office workers while articulating contrasting geometry and proportion across wrap-around elevations. 

Our focus is drawn to the environmental feature of the BREEAM Excellent building’s fixed vertical fins, which are angled to provide precise shade while internal horizontal louvres provide deeper shade where needed. The powder coating that helped bring this vision to life is Alesta ® AP Matt. 

AZ St Lucas Car Park, Ghent, Belgium

Abscis Architecten

We love a curved corner and this multi-storey hospital car park in Ghent, Belgium has been voted the second coolest car park in the world.

Cooling an urban landscape in refreshing white, Abscis Architecten’s undulating bands of filigree parapets smoothly navigate the site. Coated in Alesta ® AP Semi-Gloss, the smart balustrading allows light for planting – helping to shade and cool the car park as well as increasing biodiversity in an urban setting.

Collège Denis Poisson, Pithiviers, France

Vincent Bourgoin Architecte / Atelier B2A

We think all pupils deserve the gold star of arriving at a brand new school featuring Alesta® SD SuperDurable in Sunny Gold.

But perhaps the feature we admire even more about this middle school for 600 students in the Loiret Department of France is its sustainability credentials. Featuring biosourced hemp-linen-cotton insulation as well as straw-bale insulated timber-frame construction, the project by Vincent Bourgoin of Atelier B2A achieved a HQE (High Environmental Quality) certification of Excellent Effinergie and an E3C2 performance rating. Top marks!