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Traditional architecture and regional facings

Inspiration 20 Dec 2024
maison avec façade en pierre

A return to the architecture of traditional houses has become a necessity in a context where local resources and know-how are valued. These best practices, partly handed down through use, constitute a heritage rooted in the region, and a new source of inspiration for designing naturally resilient buildings.

This is reflected in facade cladding trends, with a pronounced taste for references to locally available materials. Here are some ideas for applying Orsol cladding in regional styles.

Collection Meulière, a nod to Parisian mansions

Millstone was the emblematic material of 19th-century and early 20th-century middle-class homes in the Paris region. It is also found in the richly ornamented villas of the Art Nouveau style. These characterful buildings are also known as meulières or maisons meulières.

Driven by its passion for stone, Orsol seeks to revive this unique character with its reconstituted stone solutions from the Meulière Collection. The result is perfect, with a product that’s reliable, resistant, more flexible and easier to install for Meulière house-inspired cladding.

Photo credit: Thomas Behuret

Collection Causse: dry stone in Quercy

The Quercy Basin, rich in limestone plateaux, also known as the Causses du Quercy, has given rise to a picturesque architecture, recognizable by its typical houses with adjoining turrets, corbelled tiles (génoise) and covered stoops (bolets). Dry limestone and its naturally ochre tones are inseparable from this style and, more broadly, from the architecture of traditional houses in the South-West.

Orsol’s Causse Collection takes up this singular aesthetic with reconstituted stone in elongated shapes with a fine grain and soft relief, available in natural, sienna or golden beige hues.

Angles collection Causse
Photo credit: Ludovic PLAULT

Tertus Collection: the stacked dry stones of Bonifacio

Corsica’s building tradition reflects the richness of its soils: schist on the Cap Corse peninsula, granite further south and limestone in the Bonifacio region. The local heritage includes exposed stone facades with dry stone dressings, sometimes dry-mounted without mortar.

To recreate this stacked look, also found on low walls and exterior walls, Orsol offers reconstituted stone cladding from the Tertus Collection, available in natural, shaded beige and golden beige tones.

Photo credit: Corinne Godard

ROCA Collection: for mountain refuges

At high altitude, local people have made do with the resources of the land, mainly wood and stone. Although these materials are locally abundant, they are not necessarily readily available. Smaller stones may have facilitated transport and played a role in traditional mountain architectural styles. The use of stones in a wide variety of sizes also reflects the need to make the most of all available resources.

The Roca Collection reflects this approach to home architecture, with great variation in both the size of the stones and the shades of each of the reconstituted stones assembled on a ready-to-install lattice.

What about the granite of Breton houses and the shelters that line coastal paths? Orsol is currently working on the launch of a new Granite Collection in 2025 for the reconstituted stone facings of typical Breton houses.

A mountain chalet with "Roca" cladding by ORSOL is nestled in a snowy landscape. The chalet features a harmonious combination of natural wood and gray stone cladding, giving it a rustic yet elegant appearance.

Natural or reconstituted stone: which to choose?

Inspiration 18 Oct 2024
Villa sur le lac dotée de la Collection MANITOBA

To make the right choice, it’s important to understand the difference between natural and reconstituted stone. The former is derived from rock extracted from its natural environment, while the latter is reconstituted to reproduce its appearance, while offering greater freedom and simplicity in terms of installation conditions, personalization and maintenance.

The difference between natural and reconstituted stone

Reconstituted stone takes on some of the characteristics of the rock it imitates: mechanical properties, authentic appearance… However, it offers much greater flexibility for interior and exterior wall cladding.

What is natural stone?

Natural stone comes from rock formed progressively by the assembly of minerals. These rocks are used in construction for their strength, or in decoration for their aesthetic qualities.

Marble, sandstone, slate and granite are just a few examples of the natural stones that are regularly used for a variety of building projects. Of course, the raw material undergoes a number of transformations so that it can be used as intended, but these adjustments are minimal.

The brand NOVIROC brand will unveil an exclusive collection of natural stones in 2025. These stones will offer exceptional aesthetic solutions for a variety of architectural projects.

What is reconstituted stone?

Reconstituted stone is obtained from mineral aggregates bonded and molded to the desired finish. After reconstitution, the block can be cut and polished like a stone extracted directly from its natural environment.

Our mastery of the process results in highly realistic reconstituted stones with subtle hues that can be customized to meet the needs of a particular project and geographical area, for example.

A mountain chalet with "Roca" cladding by ORSOL is nestled in a snowy landscape. The chalet features a harmonious combination of natural wood and gray stone cladding, giving it a rustic yet elegant appearance.

Orsol specializes in the manufacture ofhigh-end architectural elements from reconstituted stone. Discover our range of interior and exterior reconstituted stone cladding.

What are the advantages of reconstituted stone?

Reconstituted stone offers three major advantages: strength, flexibility and durability.

A stone reconstituted according to the constraints of the terrain

Reconstituted stone is designed to adapt to its installation environment. At Orsol, cladding can be interior or exterior, thanks to slabs that are resistant to external aggression, UV rays, damp rooms…

The look of natural stone wall cladding

The product can also meet precise aesthetic criteria to match the architectural style of the house or an existing natural stone cladding. In fact, it’s possible to reproduce the look of natural stone wall cladding, without the associated constraints.

Poolside cladding

Simplified implementation

Thanks to their thinness and lightness, Orsol siding is very easy to install. This solution avoids loss of living space, particularly dreaded when it comes to cladding the smallest rooms in the home. Orsol has developed its IDEAPOSE® installation process, which now benefits from an Avis Technique.

A low-carbon alternative

The environmental impact of natural stone cladding can be higher, due to the extraction and transportation processes involved. Since 2023, ORSOL has been offering a sustainable, eco-responsible alternative, with a reliable, low-carbon footprint solution. Discover NEOMINERAL®, the new low-carbon material designed to meet today’s sustainable construction challenges.

Industrial decoration: concept and ideas

Inspiration 16 Sep 2024
Brique ton rouge en pierre a pierre de chez ORSOL avec poêle à bois devant

Where does industrial style come from? What are its current codes and how can we adapt them to our contemporary needs to create an aesthetically pleasing and functional interior that’s in tune with today’s tastes?

The birth and essence of industrial style

The Latin etymology of the term “industry” already provides the basis for the industrial architectural style. Industria can mean activity, strength or energy. All concepts that changed the shape of buildings during the Industrial Revolution.

An architecture of rationality

Factories and warehouses built in the 19th century had only one objective: functionality. Ceiling heights were determined by machine dimensions. Glass walls ensure sufficient light to illuminate workstations. The layout is designed to enhance productivity. The choice of furniture, practical and basic, meets the same expectations of optimizing the work force, saving resources, space and energy.

A style that attracts in spite of itself

The industrial approach to the building’s design was not intended to seduce, only to rationalize the available surface area. Unwittingly, it delivered spaces that were to delight trendsetters. In the 1970s and 1980s, booming cities like New York gave a second life to industrial premises. These properties, with their generous volume and abundant light, became highly sought-after artists’ studios. The ultra-practical furniture they contain is used as is. Industrial style takes on a new dimension and becomes a fashion trend.

Contemporary industrial style

Most of the designs we find today in business premises and private homes are versions adapted to the needs and demands of the contemporary world. New industrial furniture is a less austere, more comfortable variation on the original style. Skylights and large glass walls are installed according to current design standards. Cladding is relatively similar, left unfinished, but with a concern for eco-responsibility and durability that takes precedence over the economic aspect.

6 ways to create contemporary industrial style

The industrial style has been brought up to date to meet new needs. Some are purely practical: more space, more storage, fewer constraints… Others are ethical and aesthetic: the search for a certain authenticity, the reuse of objects and the valorization of materials… Generally speaking, contemporary industrial style is personalized, unlike the original approach, which was purely productivist and uniform.

1 – Old red facing brick walls

Raw brick walls are an ideal backdrop for creating an industrial-inspired interior. Now, thanks to Orsol wall facings, it’s possible to recreate the authentic look of brick without the constraints of installation and maintenance. Orsol, based in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of France, favors short circuits and local sourcing to deliver more sustainable products with low environmental impact, integrating ethics and design.

The five ORSOL brick collections, Brick, Old School, Briquette, Chromatikand Black and Whiteoffer a wide range of shades and textures to enrich an industrial-style interior. From aged red tones to black and white bricks and modern accents, each collection adds its own unique touch.

A concrete example of this diversity is Élodie and Joan’s project, where red brick was chosen to frame a stove and bookcase. This project perfectly embodies the industrial aesthetic, creating a warm yet authentic atmosphere inspired by Anglo-Saxon lofts.

Photo credit: @thecountryglasshouse

BRIKELIA terracotta bricks add authentic character to any interior, harmoniously blending industrial spirit and modernity. Each vintage brick, unique in its texture and relief, is a reused brick that constitutes a fragment of history. They enrich contemporary spaces with warmth and originality.

Living room with skylight base clad in red-tone Vintage Rectified BRIKELIA siding

2 – Large volumes

Since you have a choice of brick colors, you can opt for lighter tones to maximize the feeling of space. Keeping one or more wall sections completely clear is another way of creating a sense of volume, essential for reproducing the industrial style. Decompartmentalize if technical conditions allow.

3 – Natural light

To encourage natural light, create gaps around windows and install mirrors in the right places. Locate solid partitions that could be replaced by skylights. Wherever possible, remove any obstacles to light diffusion .

4 – Artificial light

When night falls, you need to be able to rely on focused points of light to illuminate useful surfaces. This is the rationality of the industrial style. Instead of a ceiling light that illuminates the whole room, install spotlights, or better still, workshop-style light bulb suspension cables, above the kitchen worktop, dining table or desk.

5 – Industrial-style storage

To make room, you need storage solutions. Visible storage solutions can take the form of trendy lockers. They can be taken from the staff checkroom installed in factories. If this is an original piece of furniture, it will be useful to renovate it by adding shelves, so that it can be of real interest in the organization of a contemporary interior.

6 – Exposed piping

In industrial buildings, piping networks, pipes and machine gears are not concealed. If your interior includes exposed piping, highlight it with a metallic paint that contrasts with the color of your Orsol brick veneer wall.

How do you maintain and clean your stone cladding?

Inspiration 12 Aug 2024
Cuisine moderne revêtit de parement Infinity de chez ORSOL

With ORSOL, a specialist in the manufacture of top-of-the-range NÉOMINÉRAL stone wall cladding, no special maintenance is required for interior walls. For exterior installations, regular renewal of water-repellent protection is all that’s needed to extend the life of the cladding. Let’s take a closer look at how to protect, maintain and clean interior and exterior stone cladding.

How do you protect new stone cladding?

Water-repellent protection is one of ORSOL’s substrate preparation and installation products. This precaution is essential outdoors to protect the cladding from rain, but also indoors in damp rooms.

Protecting interior stone cladding

In “wet” rooms such as kitchens and bathrooms, walls are constantly exposed to water vapor. This humidity comes from cooking (pressure cookers, pots of boiling water…), but also from the operation of machines (washing machines, dishwashers). Showering and bathing are other activities that increase humidity in the ambient air.

In these rooms, contact between the walls and humidity-saturated indoor air leads to a clearly visible phenomenon on windows and mirrors. Condensation is more discreet on walls, but remains potentially harmful in the absence of appropriate treatment. For NÉOMINÉRAL stone cladding, a simple water-repellent treatment is all that’s needed after installation.

ORSOL offers several water repellents for sale. For more information, please contact our customer service department by filling in the contact form HERE.

Our sales department is at your disposal.

Modern kitchen with Infinity cladding by ORSOL

Protecting exterior stone cladding

When it comes to exterior cladding, we’re not just talking about water vapour, but also rainwater and runoff. Facade cladding must be treated to prevent any risk of infiltration. A water-resistant exterior envelope will also retain its original appearance for longer. Rain will wash away any surface dust deposits.

To protect your exterior cladding, ORSOL offers colorless and tinted water repellent treatment products. For smooth, graphic STATUR collection cladding installed without joints, you’ll need a tinted water repellent to best accompany outdoor installation? For other facings, a colorless water repellent will ideally protect the appearance of the natural stone.

When to repeat the operation on the facings?

This operation should be repeated approximately every 5 years for exterior cladding. This low-impact rhythm is sufficient to ensure maximum durability against the elements.

Indoors, you can also repeat the water-repellent treatment in damp rooms. Here too, an application every 5 years is sufficient to protect the wall against water vapour.

How do I clean interior or exterior stonework?

ORSOL siding does not need to be cleaned to remain in perfect condition. Nevertheless, accidents can happen. What should you do if a dirty liquid splashes onto an interior wall? Or a mark on an exterior wall?

Cleaning siding: beware of aggressive products

Whatever the type of stain, you need to move forward gradually. Start with the gentlest cleaning method. Never start with a product containing powerful active compounds, which could prove ineffective as well as damaging to the material. A stained and then damaged surface will be all the more difficult to clean. We recommend using a pH-neutral product to preserve the integrity of the siding.

A simple and effective way to clean facing stones

If the accident has just happened, simply soak up the liquid with a damp cloth or sponge. This should be enough to remove any unsightly traces. If the stain has had time to dry, moisten the surface and proceed in the same absorbent way. To clean more difficult-to-reclaim stonework, you can use a soft bristle brush. Rub the stain lightly in small circular movements.

Which stone cladding to use in a dirty room?

Do you worry about having to clean your interior stonework too often in messy rooms like the kitchen? Or outside, on the walls of the terrace where you eat and cook in summer?

First of all, the treatment recommended by ORSOL helps protect the cladding against stains. Dirt remains superficial on a water-repellent surface , making it easier to wash off when necessary. It also makes it possible to install old-style stone cladding or a contemporary villa around the pool.

Next, you can choose a color that makes any dirt less visible. Choose combinations of different natural shades and less uniform assemblies. If the cladding features several stones of different shapes, tones and sizes, it will be much harder to spot any anomalies.

Dining room with natural Tahoe cladding wall
Tahoe natural tone

What you need to know to clean stonework properly

The best approach is to choose a wall covering and treatment suited to the conditions in which it will be installed (damp rooms, facades, swimming pools, etc.). Then be sure to follow the manufacturer’s recommended maintenance schedule.

In the event of a stain, simply clean the exterior or interior facing stone with a soft cloth and a little water. If the surface is in good condition, it will be easier to wash.

How to choose the right wall cladding?

Inspiration 24 Jul 2024

Stone wall cladding is a technical and decorative solution that’s easy to install and maintain. When should you choose this type of cladding, and what questions should you ask yourself to find the right interior or exterior cladding?

Wall cladding: what are your options?

Wall cladding can take many forms: raw or reconstituted material, imitation natural material, elements to be assembled on site or ready-to-install panels… The best solution depends on the desired final look.

For a natural stone wall with character, it’s best to opt for individually laid facing stones. In this way, the finished product better reflects the particularities of the building and the owner’s intentions. Panels of pre-assembled elements are another option for faster installation, without falling into the uniformity of large panels.

ORSOL, specialists in the manufacture of top-of-the-range NEOMINERAL stone wall cladding, chose these installation methods for their aesthetic appeal and simplicity. Stone to stone offers the most intuitive rendering, while slabs give a unique final composition.

Which cladding materials to choose?

Natural stone, wood, concrete and metal are all common cladding materials. All have a strong identity. Combined with the volumes of the building and any textural effects, these elements have a lasting effect on the style of a building.

ORSOL wall cladding can be used for all types of project, from the most modern to the most traditional. Stone can refer to a wide variety of architectural periods and movements. More classical cladding stones evoke the cut stone or rubble of old buildings. Trendier stones create graphic or geometric visual effects.

In contemporary architecture, ORSOL’s technical and low-carbon materials also meet the challenges of the 21st century in terms of building performance and sustainability.

Indoor or outdoor installation?

The interior wall cladding solutions on the market are not necessarily suitable for outdoor use.

Facade cladding must be able to withstand rain, humidity, solar radiation… These structures are also subject to greater temperature variations than those installed indoors.

ORSOL offers claddings for both uses. Unlike plaster cladding, reconstituted stone is frost-resistant. They can cover all or part of a wall, form a base or decorate other exterior surfaces, such as low walls around swimming pools.

Outdoor pool with ORSOL Olympe natural tone cladding near a beach

How do I lay Orsol facing stones?

Orsol offers a variety of installation methods : stone by stone, jointed, in slabs, or on mesh.

Laying jointed stone cladding from stone to stone is a meticulous process that gives you complete control over the final result. Slab cladding simplifies and speeds installation. Reconstituted stone slabs are ready to glue, and corner slabs make installation even easier.

Orsol also offers cladding products on lattice and has developed a unique assembly system with the ROCA collection. Stones on latticework fit together effortlessly. The intuitive design and seamless finish bring a touch of elegance and harmony to the whole.

How to choose the right siding color?

Cladding color is generally influenced by the building environment. It can refer to materials naturally abundant in the region. These include the blue reflections of slate, the clarity of limestone, the silvery gray and exceptional green of shale, and the red and ochre tones of clay.

Cladding is available in all these colors and more. By combining cladding stones of different colors and textures, it’s possible to create different facades or interior walls every time using the same references.

The combination with other building materials is another element to take into account: window glass, wood joinery, metal finishes… Nor should the position of the wall to be clad in relation to the whole be overlooked. A darker or lighter cladding stone will not have the same effect on the dynamics perceived by the observer.

House entrance in anthracite Statur cladding

What role does the shape of the cladding play?

The choice of shape is decisive for all cladding materials. The dimensions of the wood planks, the volume of the concrete blocks and the style of the metal panels are never insignificant.

When it comes to reconstituted cladding stone, the possibilities are endless. The advantage of this solution lies in its malleability and ease of installation. Thinner, lighter elements are also easier and quicker to install than solid stone.

ORSOL favors this thin format, while offering larger facing stones to break up the uniformity of the façade and interior design.

The ORSOL® facing stone concept

ORSOL is a French company specializing in the manufacture of high-end NEOMINERAL stone wall cladding. ORSOL products are easy to install and customize, without sacrificing authenticity. NEOMINERAL stone retains all the character of the original material.

Depending on the shapes and colors chosen, ORSOL cladding evokes the refinement or intensity of raw material. They recall the singularity of each natural stone, which is what makes them so charming, but they can also dress up a facade in a modern, trendy style that’s perfectly mastered.

This passion for stone and the quest for accessibility gave birth to the company in 1995. The nobility of the material is reflected in a range of products for cladding, pillars and wall caps. All made in France, with a focus on authenticity and reducing the carbon footprint of construction.

Modern architect's house with natural Rocky Mountain siding