White Color-Framed Facades for Vibenshus Runddel station | LONGOTON | MOEDING

LONGOTON® is a rear-ventilated ceramic tile designed and patented by MOEDING, a German company dedicated to the development and production of ceramic facade systems.

This tile was used in the interior facades of seven of the 17 new subway stations for the Cityringen metro in Copenhagen, designed by the collective Arup.

The project to renew and expand the city’s metro ring is the largest construction project in over 400 years in Copenhagen and it is part of their strategy to become carbon neutral by 2025. The 17 stations guarantee that most Copenhagen residents live within 600 meters of a train or metro station. The entire design is meant to maximize the comfort of commuters from the beginning to the end of their journey.

While all the stations share generic modular traits to standardize their construction, each has its own visual identity, echoing the language and identity of the neighborhoods above them.

At Vibenshus Runddel station, LONGOTON® tiles with special glaze cover the facades of the stairs leading to the platforms. Their special glaze gives the appearance of a white wall when looked at from the front, which starts showing five different colors as viewers move further down the station. This was achieved by glazing with the color of only the undersides of each brick tile.

The architects named the modular approach to the system’s 17 stations as a “kit of parts” design, that would be cost-effective, rational, and modular. The claddings of each station are part of a future-proof strategy, with high-quality long-life materials with low maintenance costs and high impact.

The wall panels and cladding are meant to support user navigation, and while each station has its selection of cladding, which varies in shape and color, the symbology colors such as the red cladding for transfer stations, are constant among all stations. A module of 5.5 meters derived from the passenger screen doors on platforms was repeated on some of the wall claddings to reinforce the identity of the system.

The skylights of each station allow natural lighting underground that complements the concealed LED lighting fixtures across the spaces. Since the entire system is automated, the driverless trains allow for smaller platforms that reduce their underground footprint, further reduced by the placement of each station in public, already highly transited locations.

The LONGOTON® ceramic tiles by MOEDING offered a surface structure in large formats that would also be light and resistant to wear, age, and vandalism. The facades were designed to avoid the use of metals on the cladding, so cables for radio communication could be inserted in the 150 mm space behind the bricks.

The LONGOTON® brick tile is characterized by its flexibility in shape and length, which can reach up to 3,000 mm. This brick tile was introduced into the market in 2001, as a response to the demand for long-format ceramic tiles.

The facade system offers:

• long-lasting materials
• natural resources
• efficient production
• economical development through fast and efficient installation
• high individuality due to large design option potential
• energy efficient
• low maintenance