Shopping, working, living and going out under a forty-metre high arch covering an area the size of 2 large football pitches. That is what Markthal Rotterdam is. A spectacular design from the Rotterdam architectural firm MVRDV. Together with property developer ProVast, architect Winy Maas successfully combined all the functions of the Markthal without them getting in each other's way. Are you curious how this technical wonder came about?
TS Visuals is a specialized hard substrate printing company based in the Netherlands. For the decorated aluminium 'Markthal' panels they used a special printing process that is based on sublimation. Sublimation is a unique method of applying visuals to materials such as coated metal, MDF and glass. At high temperature the ink of the printed design turns into a gas and then penetrates the coated panel to form a solid, resistant and durable layer, protecting and decorating the base material. Sublimation offers a large number of novel possibilities for application in such fields as building, architecture, exteriors, interiors, transport, infrastructure, advertising and marketing.