Teijin-supported Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam celebrates 10 years

Teijin Ltd. (Tokyo, Japan) announces that the modern wing of the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, featuring what the company claims is the world’s largest composite facade made with Teijin Group’s Twaron para-aramid fiber and Tenax carbon fiber, is celebrating its 10^th anniversary this year. Teijin, which operates group companies in Europe under a regional headquarters located in Amsterdam, has been sponsoring the museum since 2007 as a cultural initiative inspired by the company’s philosophy of growing and evolving in harmony with society.

Designed by Benthem Crouwel Architects, the building soon became widely known as the “bathtub,” due to its distinctive shape. It features a smooth, seamless and shiny white facade and canopy incorporating 185 composite panels made with the Teijin Group’s advanced fiber materials. Measuring 100 meters x 25 meters and seemingly floating in the air, the building’s façade is a striking contrast to the museum’s original neo-renaissance building. The new, sustainable construction keeps out rain and dirt, is practically maintenance-free and its surface lends itself to projections of, among other things, video art, which brings citizens and visitors from all over the world.

It was known that very large building components would be required to produce the facade, but this presented potential problems due to the thermal expansion and distortion of the components over time. Conventional building materials were rejected, but after a number of verifications were performed the builders selected resin-coated sheets made with a combination of Twaron and Tenax, which reportedly minimize the effects of thermal expansion thanks to the fibers’ strength and low coefficients of thermal expansion (CTE).

Twaron para-aramid fiber produced by Netherlands-based Teijin Aramid B.V. and Tenax carbon fiber produced by Teijin Carbon Europe GmbH in Germany were combined with vinyl ester resin in composite laminates, forming the outer skins of a composite sandwich construction with a core of PIR foam. Whereas resin expands as the temperature rises, both Twaron and Tenax fibers contract, ensuring minimal expansion of the panels to realize a seamless look while creating significant structural stability.