Skip to content

Unique doors for the spherical mirror façade

The façade of the Art Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen is almost finished. Most of the insulation glass for the windows has been installed and it is now time to install the doors. The doors are cladded with the same reflective glass panels and will disappear in the façade when closed. At Sorba we develop specialized doors to make this happen. The first door was placed on the 19th of march.

The Doors

The doors that are specially developed by Sorba consist of big steel frames and the insulation glass panels. First the steel frames have been insulated and the necessary covers were installed. Subsequently the steel frames have been lifted on top of the glass panels and glued to each other. How the building is shaped makes it that the bottom panels have the biggest curvature. This gives the doors an unusual shape.

On site the doors are placed into place. This is challenging because of the unusual shape and size of the doors. The doors are approximately 4 metres high and 2,3 metres wide. They weigh about 1000 kg, which makes it even harder to find the right equipment. Aside from the size are these doors also very fragile, because of the glass panels. The first door is installed on March 19th and we are very pleased with the results. When closed, the door really disappears in the façade and make it look like the façade continuous uninterrupted.

Truck Lock

The largest doors in the depot are from the truck lock on the north side of the building. This truck lock consists of two larger doors. These function just like bus doors. When opening they first slide to the front and subsequently to the side. Most doors consist of 2 glass panels, but the truck lock doors consist of 3 panels. This makes them 5,6 metres high and weigh over 1500 kg.

Spherical Mirror Facade Door Sorba
Back To Top