Art and sustainability together: the work of Abdul Abdullah becomes an eco-active façade for the Arden Station in Melbourne, with Fiandre and Artedomus

In partnership with Artedomus, Fiandre marks yet another achievement in the architectural design of surfaces, with one of the most pioneering porcelain stoneware façades ever built in Australia. This impressive and innovative project covers over 1,100 square metres of the new Arden Station, a key hub for the future urban development of Melbourne, and represents a significant example of how design, sustainability and technology come together in a unique project. Behind this great project is a sophisticated weave of advanced technologies and a covering that not only adorns the building but also acts as a fully customised, eco-active surface.
The heart of the project is the East façade, with 522 m² of ceramic surfaces turned into an authentic work of urban art. Using the Design Your Slabs (DYS) technology to customise the ceramic slabs through a hot-printing technique, the Australian artist Abdul Abdullah has re-interpreted a historical painting in a contemporary key, reflecting on cultural identity and collective heritage. The work, reproduced on Uni-Ice Maximum slabs (300x150 cm), becomes an integral part of the urban landscape, dialoguing with the community through a visual language steeped in meaning.
Completing the project, the West façade covers a further 590 m², covered in custom Fiandre surfaces, creating a uniform and, at the same time, dynamic architectural shell. The façade also uses pioneering technology: the certified and patented eco-active Active Surfaces®, developed by Iris Ceramica Group in partnership with the Department of Chemistry of the University of Milan, cover the building to make the façade antibacterial, antiviral, self-cleaning and able to eliminate any pollutants in the air.
According to the calculations of the Department of Chemistry of the University of Milan, the surfaces installed at the Arden Station actively help to improve the quality of the environment: every year they can neutralise around 6.5 kg of nitrogen oxides (NOx), equivalent to the purifying function of over 9,600 m² of urban greenery.
For its use of the pioneering ceramic surface customisation technologies, combined with the eco-active properties of Active Surfaces®, the Arden Station project embodies the vision that Iris Ceramica Group, to which the Fiandre brand belongs, sums up with the concept of Beautility: the perfect blend of sophisticated beauty and function. This intervention is a concrete example of this philosophy, turning every surface into an active element of urban and environmental regeneration. The perfect synthesis of sustainable innovation, design and public value.