Aluminum window systems for unique two-story equestrian center in the Netherlands

At the end of September, the renovated Equestrian Center de Wolfshoeve in Huijbergen opened its doors. The existing facilities made way for the first riding school in the Netherlands with two floors. Bouwgroep Schrijver, working in a construction team, realized a new building with fifty stables on the ground floor and two large riding halls on the second floor. The project also includes two outdoor riding arenas and an entrance building including a restaurant and apartments. The construction partners chose Star 75 aluminum window systems from Aliplast Aluminum Systems. Bending work is also performed in-house at the profile manufacturer.

The renovated equestrian center de Wolfshoeve is a real eye-catcher, for which Brecht D'Hoore and Dominique Van der Horst got the inspiration in South Korea. There is not only the unique concept with two floors, but also the equiduct to get the horses into the riding halls. Before work could start on the L-shaped new building around the existing equestrian center, some non-essential buildings on the site were first demolished. 

This building includes on the ground floor fifty stables for boarding and own horses, while on the second floor two large riding halls of 20 by 60 meters and 25 by 65 meters, respectively, a lesson room and a gym were equipped. The new construction project also includes an entrance building, which houses the competition secretariat, office space, a horse store; a brasserie/restaurant as well as apartments and guest rooms. 

Once the horses had moved into their new quarters, the old equestrian center was demolished and two more outdoor riding arenas and an impressive driveway were constructed throughout the site. Since the metamorphosis of this Equestrian Center was done in several phases, operations could always continue.

Architects Cees Bons and Peter van Aert were responsible for the design, working closely with architectural consultancy BMVV. Bouwgroep Schrijver was called in at an early stage within the construction team to help think about the concept and ultimately realize the project. Naturally, a great deal of attention was paid to the layout of the various spaces so that they met all current requirements within equestrian sports, including competitions. The builders also wanted ample daylight in the rooms and a view of the outdoor arena from the various halls. Large windows were to provide this. The building partners selected the Star 75 from Aliplast. This aluminum window system has an installation depth of 75 mm for the outer frame and 84 mm for the sash and is suitable for glass thicknesses between 12 and 61 mm for the frame and between 21 and 69 mm for the sash.

"With a Uw value of 0.94 W/m²K, an air tightness class 4 and an acoustic value of 47.1 dB (-1,-4), this solution fits perfectly into applications with the most stringent thermal and acoustic insulation requirements. Moreover, a brilliant report can also be presented with regard to fire resistance. After all, there are certificates for both EW30 and EI30 available," says Tony Suikerbuijk, project manager at the manufacturer from Lokeren (Belgium). 

"All systems were custom-made in our factory and then delivered to the assembly team. After all, we perform everything in-house: extrusion, machining, painting, packaging, transportation, ..... In this way, we keep the production process completely under control, can coordinate the various steps perfectly with each other and can switch flexibly in case of any changes throughout the process. Especially the curved windows for the Wolfshoeve were a great challenge to produce. But we can also produce such profiles precisely thanks to our bending machines. All systems were painted in anthracite gray (RAL 7016). We give a 25-year warranty on this paintwork, by the way. After all, the Qualicoat Seaside quality label guarantees that the paint color is extra protected against aggressive environments, for example near sand."