An intervention in the heart of the new Arden Station in Melbourne, a strategic infrastructure hub supporting the city’s urban expansion, redefines the surface as an active element of the architectural composition and the urban landscape. Active Sufaces® materials by Fiandre - in partnership with Artedomus - have helped develop this integrated ceramic coverings project that combines beauty, innovative materials and environmental performance, in line with a vision in which the skin of the building actively contributes to the construction of a public space. The project covers over 1,100 square metres on the East and West façades, each with different narrative contents but sharing the same material configurations.

The East façade (522 m²) is covered in Uni-Ice Maximum slabs size 300×150 cm, a matt ceramic surface customised with DYS – Design Your Slabs technology that creates unique ceramic surfaces with a hot-printing process that ensures their durability and beauty. In this case, the ceramic medium became the canvas for the work of the artist Abdul Abdullah that reinterprets a J.S. Calder painting from 1860. The two overlapping aluminium hands are a symbol of welcoming. The result is an urban surface with an expressive and symbolic function that narrates the relationship between memory, identity and the transforming landscape.

On the West façade (590 m²), the covering is made from tailored slabs to create a uniform and dynamic architectural shell. The façade is made with eco-active Active Surfaces® that help the shell to eliminate the pollutants in the air. According to the data estimated by the Department of Chemistry of the University of Milan, the Active Surfaces® ceramics installed at Arden Station can eliminate around 6.5 kg of NOx every year, equivalent to the positive environmental impact of an urban park measuring over 9,600 square metres.

The project is covered by strict environmental and quality certifications: Cradle to Cradle Certified Silver, GREENGUARD Gold, LEED scores, ISO 9001, 14001 and 45001:2018. Arden Station sets out to become a new infrastructural landmark, in which the integration between public art, pioneering materials and sustainable strategies builds an architectural narrative that is rooted in the community while keeping an eye on the future.

The surface exceeds its material function and, in the Arden Station project, becomes a meeting point between art and architecture, contributing to the environmental quality and cultural meaning of the public space. This intervention reflects the vision summed up by the concept Beautility, promoted by Iris Ceramica Group: beauty that derives from function, environmental responsibility and the ability to transform built spaces.