Trends in surfaces and structures

Functionality and aesthetics are increasingly merging

The accent makes the difference. A well-known statement by Jan de Paepe, director of the Belgian company ALINEL. Both ALINEL and products such as TORIX-ROUNDAL from sister company URSUS BV have been focusing for some time on what they are marketing under the term "accent architecture.

Functional and aesthetic

These are products that you use to add accents to a facade, sometimes functional, sometimes purely aesthetic, to give the building or home its unique character. "Increasingly, functionality is being combined with aesthetics," De Paepe knows. "And we respond to this with our products, so that we can realize for the architect what he visually envisions, and we don't lose sight of ergonomics in all respects for the window and door professionals."

New trends and tendencies

Combining functionality with aesthetics is just one of many trends," continued
De Paepe. "Trend watchers like Hilde Francq, who deal with trends and tendencies, are already looking much further into the future. They predict that organic forms and rougher structures will make more of an appearance. The interpretation of these trends is that everything can be a bit more rough and authentic again. The minimalist and austere is clearly being abandoned a bit more in this." 

ALINEL follows developments in the market -
 and thus the trends - closely and responds nicely to this with its products. "Whereas our aluminum cladding in its painted form mainly met the demand for the sleek, repetitive, for the future we are looking at irregular shapes and new surfaces."

Wood-look texture

The first innovation in line is that of the WOODLOOK. "The ALINEL Type B WOODLOOK is an imitation wood-look cladding in foil form that is completely drawn around our aluminum profiles. But it was also our challenge here to maintain the Premium look - for which ALINEL is known - and even go a step further." 

The result can be called anything but 'fake' and has even been described by many as 'barely distinguishable from real'. In Belgium, this unique range is a Premium Partner exclusive product, which means that this range is only available through the network of ALINEL Premium Partners. 

"In the Netherlands, we have not yet started our Premium Partner network," says De Paepe. "There are plenty of opportunities and possibilities for potential partners. They can therefore definitely contact me."

Rougher to the touch surface

Second, De Paepe mentions WOODALUX. A product with which ALINEL also responds to the aforementioned trends. 

"Our WOODALUX profiles, which today are mainly 'stand-alone' products to create accents, are the answer to the demand for more structure and rougher to the touch surfaces. The extrusion of a seamless composite outer shell of about 3mm around an aluminum profile is a reason for success. Not only is it completely scratch-resistant, but because of the aluminum tube core, it is also more sturdy than real wood. But above all, the look and feel is one of 'idiosyncratic conviction' that should reinforce its own character and identity on the market." 

According to De Paepe, the intention is NOT to want to be real wood. "The brushed rough surface, the non-perfect continuity in flatness of that surface and the corner roundings, approach precisely that search for that organic. Combine that with a mix of unique proprietary colors and you understand why WOODALUX wants to go its own way and especially challenge the combination with other building materials." 

ALINEL is now in the process of developing its own backing structure. At Polyclose 2022 in Ghent (B), this will be presented to the market as a perfectly applicable facade cladding. Something to look forward to! ALINEL is and will continue to be the perfect partner for customers who not only want to create unique facade accents, but are also looking for a fully developed, ready-to-install open facade cladding system that is easy to assemble.  

WOODALUX is a brand name of ALUMIL sa.
ALINEL is the exclusive Benelux representative for WOODALUX.