As the saying goes, there is no ‘i’ in team, and the group of expert consultants that came together to execute the magnificent 522-square-metre exterior facade of Arden Station spanned countries, continents and multiple disciplines.

The station, located on Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung and Bunurong Boon Wurrung Country, is a new transport hub delivered as part of the Victorian State Government’s Metro Tunnel initiative. The hub is already attracting widespread attention for its impressive brick arches which pay homage to North Melbourne’s industrial history, and the eastern façade which features a major artwork by Australian artist Abdul Abdullah.

Abdul’s artwork, titled ‘Come Together’, conjures the West Melbourne Swamp as it was before colonial or architectural intervention. Reaching across this bucolic scenery are two hands. These represent a meeting place and waypoint, says Abdul. “I wanted to make a waypoint where people could meet, I wanted them to meet under the hands of Arden Station,” he says.

He originally envisaged the artwork as a large-scale mosaic. “There’s something about tile that references an ancient history,” says Abdul, pointing to the Bangladeshi tradition of depicting public figures in portraits composed of tile mosaics. “They lend these images a … solid historical footing. Something that’s going to last a long time and comes embedded with ideas of history…”

It quickly became clear that the project would require an innovative façade solution to achieve the scale required to clad the Arden Station’s 522-square-metre exterior façade.

Porcelain aficionados, Fiandre, offer an innovative Design Your Slabs (DYS) system which enables project teams to reproduce prints, designs, or even artworks, for almost any application. Using the Fiandre DYS system, the project team, headed up by project manager Charmaine Kasselman (CYP Design & Construction Joint Venture), was able to achieve the fine mosaic-like detail Abdul had envisaged, and deliver the seamless continuity required for this extra large-scale work.

“Fiandre DYS custom porcelain is a new innovation, resulting in many functional and aesthetic benefits – as we can see in the extraordinary Arden Station outcome. This is the first large scale project in the world using Fiandre DYS; it is quite unique and exciting to see what is possible at this scale. There is no limitation to the type of artwork or shape, scale or colours that can be achieved using Fiandre DYS – there is nothing else like it,” says William Pearse, business development manager at Artedomus.

The DYS custom printed porcelain panels deliver an impressive list of maintenance and environmental benefits, thanks to Fiandre’s patented Active Surfaces technology which enhances the porcelain panels with photocatalytic properties.

“The photocatalytic properties prevent environmental dirt from sticking to the surface of the panel, and generally rain will be all that’s needed to keep the surface clean. The panels also deliver anti-pollution properties, effectively reducing nitrogen oxides to physically clean the air around it,” says William. “This action is comparable to benefits generated by green planted zones…”

The Arden Station project is a world-first for the large-scale installation of Fiandre DYS with Active Surfaces. (In fact a total of 1,112 square metres of porcelain panels enhanced with Active Surfaces were delivered for  Arden Station across its east and west exterior facades).

The porcelain panels also deliver numerous environment credentials which attest to the sustainability and responsible design that underpins what has been a highly innovative and creatively ambitious project. (Credentials include Cradle-to-Cradle Certified Silver status, GREENGUARD Gold certification, LEED recognition, and ISO 9001, 14001 and 45001:2018 accreditations).

Watch the full video here.