JK House - gratings

The JK House project is a privately initiated development of a villa in the Bezuidenhout area of The Hague. The architect responsible for this project is Jacco van Wengerden from Atelier van Wengerden, located in Amsterdam. 

The unusual location of the site, surrounded by buildings erected in the 1930s, required balanced choices in the materials used for the façade. Furthermore, the villa's design needed to meet the conservative demands of the local aesthetics committee The Hague municipality and tying in with the adjacent buildings. The architect, Van Wengerden, immediately realised the potential of the site. By making the right choice of materials for the façade, he could refer to the former garden centre on this location and the colour and structure of the brickwork of the adjacent buildings. 

The Solution

In his quest to find the right materials for JK House’s unique façade, Van Wengerden decided to use COR-TEN steel MESH® gratings in his design. Although these gratings are originally designed for industrial flooring, this particular choice of material would solve several issues at once. 

Firstly, COR-TEN steel gratings are relatively affordable. Secondly, they fit perfectly into the existing surroundings and refer to the site's past. The local aesthetics committee of The Hague municipality was pleased with the choice of this material. Especially by the fact that a COR-TEN steel façade was perfect for allowing vegetation to grow on, which is another reference to the history of the site. 

Trying to find a supplier for this façade, Van Wengerden approached PCP's local office in the Netherlands. Since PcP could produce these gratings in a wide variety of dimensions in both bearing and filler bars, Van Wengerden could design the gratings to match his initial idea of vertical lines in the appearance of the façade.

For a more vivid look, PcP produced gratings with dimensions between the vertical bearing bars of both 44 and 55mm, where the filler bars were spaced 150mm in between. In addition, the gratings were mounted backwards, leaving only the bearing bars visible. Despite making production more challenging, the desire was also to have no edge bars on the top side of the gratings for a more open appearance, and PcP was able to deliver this. 

The result is a Villa with a façade that, in time, due to the natural process of the rust-brown colouring of the COR-TEN steel, will be at one with its surrounding buildings. 

The Collaboration 

The first contact about the project was established in early 2015. Over a period of several years, Van Wengerden and PcP discussed options and difficulties in manufacturing the façade. After making design choices, we produced samples to visualise the choice of mesh sizes and discolouration of the COR-TEN steel. We completed the project at the beginning of 2019.