The Fricke Saphir Building in Bockel, Germany, was renewed in 2013 and held a retail shop for its products.

The Fricke Group is one of the largest private enterprises in the agricultural machinery industry and is very successful in many areas today. Fricke group and Saphir offer robust and reliable technology to agricultural machinery specialist dealers. The product line includes machines for grassland work ranging from rotary mowers to grassland harrows and pasteur rollers, livestock trailers, and equipment for preparing the soil and cultivation.

The front part of the building opens on the ground floor via a completely glazed façade to the outer surfaces. A unique feature of the building is the textile membrane, which disguises the upper floor of the office wing and symbolizes technical innovation and clear lines. Its distinctive design also acts remotely as an advertising space for the Saphir brand.

The display and advertising company Sign Ware in Sunder, Germany designed and installed the whole facade cladding with the steel substructure and clamping system, Screen age from Miederhoff is a classic system for facade banners in large format with robust clamping technology. A hidden and segmented installation can be implemented with it. To meet static requirements, the components are made of high-quality materials.

The initial installation was not a success. Unfortunately, the membrane (not from Sioen and Printable Technical Textiles) failed to perform; the ink faded after two years. These things can happen when membrane, varnish, ink, and finishing are not all 100% aligned.

In a second phase, Sybold confection reinstalled a mesh product produced by Sioen. Printable Technical Textiles realized this red print through their SolidskinTec printing process. The vulnerability and the exposure to nature were vital in this project. Long-time relationships between printer, confectioner, and producer of technical textiles, lead to the right solution. The consortium of these two grants a warranty of ten years on the material and printing due to a special lacquer on top of the ink and the mesh material. The new membrane was installed in 2016.

Fotos: D:4, Heinrich Hermes, Studio Banck, Bernd Langer, H. Seybold GmbH

Project description

Project Fricke – Saphir
Location D-27404 Gyhum-Bockel
Substrate Sioen T 2302 FE
Quantity 460m2
Year 2016
Installer H. Seybold

textile facades