Logistic Area Gava

River West Open, the new wing of stores expanding along a “broken line” River West Open is the name that has been given to the extension of the River West shopping mall to the adjacent plot to its west. It comprises the entire renewal of the former Mouzakis industrial lot transforming it into a series of new stores and food and beverage outlets, on a total surface area of 83,500 sqm, in Athens, and it is owned by the Noval Property company.

This is a new wing of stores expanding along a broken line in the back of River West that follows the “river’s” course, bringing to mind the Kifissos river running underground at the same location. The design concept has created spaces for both movement and pause providing multiple opportunities for visual escapes towards both the interior and the exterior of the shopping mall.

Close collaboration with Vikelas Architects and the subsequent controls carried out throughout the construction, by Elval Colour’s technical department, have ensured that the façade with aluminium composite panels was manufactured, fabricated, and installed in line with the requested specifications, ultimately guaranteeing its aesthetic and structural integrity for many years to come.


The challenges

One of the challenges of the project was to ensure the aesthetic performance of the cladding, in terms of colour, so that it would be identical to the corresponding cladding in the existing shopping mall. Due to the high number of visitors in the building, it was particularly important to select the proper material of fire safety, while providing energy efficiency to the building.

The design scale for the new building has required cassettes whose length exceeded, at times, four meters, while the sheets needed to be thinner than six millimetres. The cladding for the façade needed to be drillable, maintaining all the while the integrity of the flatness of the material.

The result

For the facade of the new River West Open, Elval Colour, in collaboration with Vikelas Architects, has opted for using etalbond®Α2 aluminium composite panels, because of their non-combustible core. The product satisfies the building’s maximum fire protection requirements in line with the strictest European and international standards. The material is ideal for buildings over 23 meters in height and buildings with a high number of visitors.

Panels were placed in accordance with the principle of ventilated façades. Ventilated façades have been named so because of the layer of air existing between the main masonry and the outer decorative layer. They take advantage of the space between the masonry and the outer surface by creating a natural draught, through the so-called chimney phenomenon, for the layer of air existing in-between. This results in the removal of hot air and humidity, immediately reducing the cooling loads needed in the summer. Conversely, during the winter, ventilated façades maintain more heat in the interior, thus reducing the heat loads needed and the building is heating requirements. All the above contribute in optimising the building’s energy efficiency.

etalbond®Α2 aluminium composite panels bear a 201 Angel White finish, selected from Elval Colour’s standard colour collection, creating a harmony of colours among the buildings, whereas the back side of the panels is covered with a special primer to facilitate the placement of supports for large cassettes. To achieve the minimum break possible between cassettes, the Bravo W support system for vertical suspended cassettes was used, and drilling was performed by CNC treatment so as not to affect the panel’s perfect flatness.

Between the new wing and the old wing, a curved awning made of aluminium composite panels has been created, visually enhancing the new entrance located there while also protecting it against the sun and the rain. Elval Colour is always seeking to achieve the highest quality for its products aiming at providing excellent services to its customers.

Elval Colour