Dark Street Corner transformed into city highlight thanks to the use of DuPont™ Corian® External Cladding

Unlike any other colour, white instills wideness, openness and friendly ambience. This output was used for the transformation of a dark and massive 1970s residential and commercial building at the central foodmarket square in the German town of Backnang. The result: a contemporary airy architecture with a shiny white cladding made of DuPont™ Corian®.

The address Fruit Market (Am Obstmarkt) evokes images of the main square in an old market town. But unfortunately, this address in the center of picturesque city of Backnang in Württemberg in the south of Germany has lost most of its original charm – due to the bombing during the Second World War as well as architectural mistakes in the post-war era. Until recently, house number one with its dark, solid appearance was no exception to the overall look of the street. Empty for more than ten years, it became part of an extensive restoration project started by the city with the help of advanced surfacing material DuPont™ Corian®. The structure was transformed into a modern residential and office building, an extra top floor was added during the renovation phase.

At this highly visible location, the architects, Loesch Architekten GmbH from Stuttgart, used a lot of sensitivity for design and material by transforming the existing space into elegant office suites as well as three generous maisonette flats. The new building demonstrates an inconspicuous architectural language, with clean lines, cubic and urban aesthetic. Mostly due to its striking white façade made of DuPont™ Corian®, the formerly neglected entrance to the Fruit Market shows an attractive transformation and serves as an open statement to residents and passers-by alike.

The modern, easygoing architecture reflects the different functional areas – working and living – by using separate materials: The bottom floors used for office spaces are covered in Corian® and glass while the top floors display an individual slatted facade. At the same time, the different areas are creatively connected to each other using recurring cubic elements on all three sides of the building.

For the clearly visible, pure white external cladding of the building, the architects have chosen the high-tech material DuPont™ Corian® in Glacier White colour, generating a very fitting, homogenous appearance by using cutting edges in the same colour scheme. The different panels of the façade were expertly fabricated by DuPont™ Corian® Quality Network partner Moser GmbH from Haslach. Subsequently, Wittenauer GmbH from Sasbach installed the carefully tailored, bonded and sanded panels, generating invisible joints to the window frames and the slatted façade. The 350 square meters external cladding made of Corian® serves as a double-layered, ventilated façade and needs a minimum of installation work while offering long-lasting protection from weather and moisture.