Projects

Take a look at the many projects that have benefited from stainless steel.

Our portfolio includes everything from the latest trends in everyday buildings to some of the world’s most aesthetically daring designs.

The forested shores of Lake Memphremagog

Stainless Steel Roof Reflects the Surrounding Environment and the Home’s Sustainable Vision

A lakefront house in Saint-Benoît-du-Lac, Québec is a dynamic, welcoming, and friendly sight along the forested shores of Lake Memphremagog. The residential home was designed in 2020 by NatureHumaine, a Montreal-based architecture and design firm that drew its inspiration from nearby churches, including a Benedictine abbey.

The home also pulls from its natural surroundings. For example, the envelope of the multi-tiered upper floor is made of pre-aged wood siding and topped by a stainless steel roof clad with Aperam’s Uginox Patina K41. Over time, the stainless steel roof, which is punctuated by big bright skylights, will gain a nice matte appearance that will tie the home and landscape together.

But the decision to use stainless steel goes beyond just aesthetics. As a durable material, stainless steel can withstand the elements and, unlike other roofing materials, is guaranteed a long lifespan. And, being 100% recyclable, using stainless steel ensures that the house contributes to protecting the beautiful environment it calls home – a mission further enhanced by the property’s use of geothermal heating, insulation that exceeds code requirements, charging stations for electric vehicles, and a choice of energy-efficient lighting.

Technical Files

Québec, Canada
NatureHumaine
©©Adrien Williams

Info

K41
Patina

Verrière Hôtel de la Marine

Bringing a Little Light into an Enlightenment Era Palace

The Hôtel de la Marine, one of two palaces located in Paris’ Place de la Concorde, was designed to fit a king. Literally. With its facade designed by the king’s architect himself, AngeJacques Gabriel, the palace once housed the Garde-Meuble de la Couronne and King Louis XV’s intendant. And like the monarchy itself, this neoclassical building was ransacked during the French Revolution. Following the revolution, the Navy took up residence, maintaining their seat of administration there until 2015. Listed as a historic monument in 1923, today the palace is undergoing a large-scale restoration project. The project is managed by the Centre des Monuments Nationaux (CMN), who commissioned Christophe Bottineau, the Chief Architect of Historical Monuments. His mission: to restore the building’s facades, roofs, and joinery and reinvigorate its interior space.

Glass, Steel and Stainless

At the heart of the palace complex are two open-air courtyards. Prior to the renovation, this was a dark and dreary area with little to no natural light. To change this, architects added a pyramid shaped glass roof over the courtyards. The roof, which is designed to mimic the crystal chandeliers that once hung in the palace’s main halls, reflects the surrounding sunlight and fills the courtyards with bright, natural light and warmth. Measuring 20 by 15 metres and weighing over 70 tonnes, constructing the suspended glass roof represented a real technical challenge. To succeed, designers turned to three core materials: glass, steel, and stainless. The glass itself rests on a leaf structure made of steel, which is underpinned by tie rods and clad with 54 continuous stainless steel sheets. As to the stainless steel component, the project uses 1.5 mm thick Aperam 304L sheets, each of which measure 2 x 4 m and cover a total area of 432 m2. With a Uginox Meca 7D finish, the sheets not only add to the structure’s reflectiveness, they also create a mirror effect that conceals the surrounding steel frame. .

A New Cultural Space

When all is said and done, Parisians and tourists alike will have a new cultural and living space to enjoy. The refurbished Hôtel de la Marine’s 12,000 m2 will include a combination of office, exhibition, and retail space. The public will also be able to take a tour of the palace and learn about life during the French Enlightenment.

Technical Files

Paris, France
Agence 2BDM et Hugh Dutton Associés
©Nicolas Trouillard

Info

304L
Uginox Poli Miroir
1.5mm

Miriam Makeba School

Architects design sustainable school using stainless steel  

Inaugurated in 2019, the new Miriam-Makeba primary school has added a touch of modernity to a traditionally immigrant neighbourhood in Nanterre, France. Named after the legendary South African jazz singer and anti-apartheid advocate, the 4,050 square metre building blends in perfectly with its surrounding neighbourhood, including the adjacent 113 m high Hauts-de-Seine tower. Capable of accommodating nearly 400 students and 50 staff, the building also satisfies the city’s commitment to sustainable building. Wanting to use only recyclable materials in the school’s design, the architects naturally choose stainless steel – which is 100% recyclable. With a façade clad in Aperam’s Uginox 304 grade of stainless steel, the building has a unique bright finish that brings a touch of sparkle to the neighbourhood.

Technical Files

Nanterre, France
Cabinet Toa architectes associés

Info

304/1.4301
Uginox Rolled-on

St Barnabas Church

The £5m restoration of Grade II listed St Barnabas Church Erdington after an arson attack in 2007 included a sweeping stainless steel roof. This has enabled the modern extension to be ‘fused’ with the extensively restored Victorian structure to incorporate a glass fronted cafeteria.

Architects Brownhill Hayward Brown specified a standing seam system using Aperam Uginox and Ugitop stainless steel across the entire span. UGINOX takes on the matt grey appearance and traditional aesthetic of aged lead sheet through natural patination. UGITOP was installed to the overhanging soffit areas where natural ageing through weather was restricted, the material also being easy to clean.

The stainless steel roof’s has been described as ‘providing a modern twist in the creation of a place of worship fit for the 21st century’.

Technical Files

Erdington – Birmingham, United Kingdom
Brownhill Hayward Brown
©Terence Smith Photography

Info

304/1.4301
Uginox Top

Banque de France

Clad in mirror polished stainless, the 200 seater auditorium suspended in the large volume of the hall comes to life in the changing reflections of a head turning silver sky.

Created in 1800 and erected in 1811 in the old Toulouse county hotel at the heart of Paris, the Bank of France has preserved its original foundations in the face of a number of significant refurbishments, most notably the transfer of the main entrance from La Vrillière street onto Croixdes Petits Champs street with a new frontal as its key point.

Cultivating both discretion and splendour to which the gilted Gallery still pays homage to this day, this strategic establishment wanted to offer both its workers and the entire world darkening the doors of this historical centre a contemporary entrance hall, worthy of its notoriety without reference to the previous old entrance, unanimously considered to have been ordinary.

Beneath the existing marble slabs lies the vault, hidden and guarded treasure with no access not even a peek. Faced with this confined space, restricted on all fronts, the architects retained following a selection process imagined a subtle, brilliant inverted project in order to meet the cleint’s brief. A client concerned about how to integrate a 200 seater auditorium, meeting rooms, food areas and the associated logistics.

A suspended structure for a furtive shape

The ancient hall area is totally uncluttered and expands into the entire depth of the building, from the street through to the end of the plot. Offices and other required facilities are housed along each side including a patio area. A  majestic area opens out to the visitor, barely furnished with a bench and a sofa area with a huge 250m² rug onto which the refurbishment plan is laid out. The strength of this work is as much functional and structural as visual, with the suspended auditorium whose architects have created a moving ceiling entirely clad in stainless giving an extraordinary dimension to the hall area by altering its interpretation and toning down its perception without compromising its functionality.This furtive volume is held by metallic profiles and existing concrete beams beside the triangular steel structure, supporting all of the facilities. This metal cage is clad in a shell of plaster board which redefine its contours. The actual covering is made up of flat plates, shaped into either a single or double curve all crafted in the same way with a 2mm thick stainless steel sheet counter embossed onto an aluminium honeycomb structure.

Most of these plates are 1.40m wide and 4m long in addition the shaped parts adapt to fit the angles and cornices of the geometry to give an workable area of around 900m² in all. Constructive prowess with the double railed staircase, delicate handrails made of barely visible spun stainless. The magic works at all points of the mirror.

A flawless non directional miror polished stainless

Unrecognisable, unreachable and impossible to photograph which rare banknotes adorn the ceiling of the Bank of France hall? In this overprotected area, stainless steel reveals itself as the most appropriate and astonishing of materials to achieve the desired effects, its polished finish to perfection offers the maximum reflectivity on a silver background. This non directional mirror finish, with its commercial brand name

Uginox Meca 8ND is generally used in modest quantities and surface areas for luxury bathrooms or decorative elements.Such precision in the concept would be unthinkable in a more conventional configuration. It exploits the inverted architectural function by acting as a xxx light source, a fascinating optical game, even a hidden camera in the ceiling. Its delicate execution led architects to call upon specialist contractors in the luxury yacht field, familiar with exacting fixing techniques for this top of the range material. Material which demands to be handled with care, taking all precautions when being worked in order to guarantee the flatness of the plates, the hidden joints and in this particular case the bold bevelled returns and angles, all in a flawless surface finish.

Technical Files

Paris, France
Moatti – Rivière
©Michel Denancé

Info

304/1.4301
Uginox Meca 8ND
2 mm

Want advice? Have a question?
Need help choosing the right stainless steel for your project?

Please call us at +1908 988 0625

Whether you are an architect, roofer, designer, construction company, prime contractor, or distributor, our team of experts can help you with your projects.

Want advice? Have a question?
Need help choosing the right stainless steel for your project?

Please call us at +1908 988 0625

Whether you are an architect, roofer, designer, construction company, prime contractor, or distributor, our team of experts can help you with your projects.

Need
inspiration? 

Take a look at the many projects that have benefited from stainless steel.

Our portfolio includes everything from the latest trends in everyday buildings to some of the world’s most aesthetically daring designs.

Need
inspiration? 

Take a look at the many projects that have benefited from stainless steel.

Our portfolio includes everything from the latest trends in everyday buildings to some of the world’s most aesthetically daring designs.

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