A Perfect Match for the Façade

The building with the light grey bricks is an eye-catcher: a new town hall has been built in Vejen, Denmark, which has received an award for its outstanding design and architectural quality. The façade is characterised by an exciting combination of classic and dynamic design language, and the sun protection system matches the elegant appearance of the building perfectly. High-performance shading is provided by 159 heroal VS Z textile screens.

A state-of-the-art town hall has been built in the Jutland municipality of Vejen, meeting the highest sustainability and design standards. The building, located in the centre of the town with 43,000 inhabitants, has been built on the site of the former town hall, and offers space for more than 200 employees on four floors. With the aim of meeting future energy efficiency targets and resource conservation requirements, and increasing the well-being of employees and visitors, the building committee decided in favour of a new building. The administration building also stands out for its impressive architecture, for which it was the first building in Denmark to receive the DGNB Diamond Award and certification.

The town hall, designed by Pluskontoret Arkitekter from Aarhus and completed in 2019, impresses with an exciting synthesis of classic and dynamic design language. The façade, made of light grey bricks, strikes the eye with its relief-like, stepped structure, accentuating the slightly recessed windows and doors. The main entrance, which extends generously up to the first floor, combines large window elements and plane surfaces, and softens the functional symmetry of the façade.

The design inside the building is intended to promote connection and communication. Both the main and side entrances lead into a central atrium with a view of all floors and the neighbouring parts of the building. Glass insets in the floors of the corridors connect the individual levels and contribute to the open, friendly character of the building. This effect is further emphasised by the skylights that provide the town hall with natural light.

The shading provided by external textile screens makes a significant contribution to the energy-efficient building operation of Vejen Town Hall. In summer, this solution provides a natural pleasant indoor climate and allows air conditioning to be reduced to a minimum. The metal construction company Alux A/S in Silkeborg was asked to create this extremely well-thought-out solution. The partner for heroal sun protection solutions in Denmark offered the building contractor, Jørgen Friis Poulsen A/S, a complete solution that not only met the high design requirements but also included the option of integrating the sun protection system into the building automation system.

The shading in Vejen Town Hall is provided by the heroal VS Z textile sun protection system. Its innovative zip technology ensures energy-efficient building operation with maximum stability of the textile. Even in strong winds of up to 145 km/h, the heroal VS Z remains reliably in the guide rail. Thanks to its wide range of design options, it also blends in perfectly with the look of the building. In Vejen Town Hall, the textiles in anthracite colour work well with the light grey bricks of the façade. The high-quality colour design of the aluminium guide rails and end strips with a warm orange heroal hwr powder coating also looks elegant and appealing. The particularly light-fast and weather-resistant coating is similar in colour to the windows and doors, and underlines the striking, distinctive appearance of the building. The extremely unobtrusive integration of the heroal sun protection system into the façade, made possible by the small guide rails with a face width of just 25 mm, is also particularly aesthetic.

Alux integrated more than 500 m² of the heroal VS Z sun protection in Vejen Town Hall. The close collaboration with heroal ensured first-class results. The sun protection elements are controlled fully automatically via the building automation system, and stand out for their great flexibility and effectiveness. For this purpose, Alux set up four independently programmable zones that control the textiles individually, depending on the time of day and weather conditions. The intelligent use of the sun protection system reduces air conditioning costs and ensures the energy-efficient operation of the building.