ICÔNE
Architect: Foster + Partners
Location: Belval, Luxembourg
Type: Office
Year: 2023
Photographs: Nigel Young
The following description is courtesy of the architects. Foster + Partners has completed ICÔNE, a new office complex in Belval, Luxembourg. The 18,800 square-metre office building, filled with light and greenery, encourages a spirit of co-creation and collaboration. Its layout addresses the need for flexible and safe working environments that will emerge in the future. It also references the rich industrial heritage of Belval, revitalising the area by making a positive contribution to the site and its surroundings. The scheme is targeted to achieve a BREEAM Excellent rating.
Darron Haylock, Partner, Foster + Partners, said: “We are delighted to celebrate the opening of this landmark project for Belval, which we began designing in 2016, well before the pandemic began. Covid has highlighted the need for healthier and more flexible urban workspaces, which is exactly what this project provides. The light-filled central atrium is the beating heart of the complex, promoting collaboration and enhancing employee wellbeing.”
Geoffroy Bertrand, Country Director, BESIX RED Luxembourg, said: “As a forerunner in this field, ICÔNE is
a ‘smart building’ dedicated to the wellbeing of its occupants. We have designed office space that encourages interactivity, creativity and performance, while adapting to the environmental requirements of
tomorrow.”
ICÔNE is located in Belval, a new city quarter combining research, education, leisure and commerce. The
scheme relates to the scale of neighbouring buildings and addresses the different characteristics of the
surrounding streets. Its entrances are articulated differently in response to Porte de France, the main urban
street to the west and the Place de l’Académie to the East. New shops, cafés and restaurants will bring life
to these entrance elevations at pedestrian level.
Designed in collaboration with local practice BFF architectes, the building is arranged as two wings
enclosing the central atrium, wrapped by a distinctive orthogonal façade and roof which emphasises the
structural grid and gives the building appropriate to its industrial setting. The historic and symbolic Belval
blast furnace forms the central focus of the dramatic vista from the atrium.
Tom Beiler, Partner, BFF, said: “It was a great honor and pleasure to participate in the creation of this unique building that responds to the beacon of history, the Haut Fourneau B. During this exceptional and respectful collaboration with Foster + Partners, we were able to create a building with a pared-down design that embodies the industrial aesthetic to create a bright, transparent and relevant space.”
The fluidity of the internal space contrasts with the building’s formal exterior. The atrium resolves the level
changes between the street and the plaza through a series of stepped terraces which create a spectacular
arrival sequence. The open circulation adds to the vibrancy of the internal spaces, with communal green landscaped terraces for informal meetings and break out spaces at higher levels as part of a rich and varied
whole.
The façade is both structural and environmentally responsive, providing an integrated solution which allows
for internal column-free office spaces as well as solar shading and maximised internal daylight. The
external façade benefits from a series of external green loggias, visible from both the inside and outside of
the building.
Project Details
- Client: BESIX RED Luxembourg
- Completion date: 2023
- Site Area: 5,500 m2
- Gross Area: 18,747 m2
- Net internal area: 13,000 m2 + 3,800 m2 common areas
- Number of Floors: 6
- Building Dimensions: Height: 30 m
- Length: 81 m
- Width: 56.7 m
- Capacity: 1,235
- Building type: Speculative office development
- Structure and Materials: White concrete framed mega-structure based on 8.1m x 8.1m grid with curtain walling systems which define entrance spaces.
- GRC concrete
- Concrete
- Steel
- Aluminium ceiling
- Glass with aluminium framing
- Sustainability:
- District heating and chilled ceiling system with exposed structural slabs. Facade is self-shading at a depth of 1.35m.
- Concrete used throughout project for high thermal mass, exposed soffits combined with chilled ceiling system allows for more even radiant temperature with lower cooling / heating demand.
- Former industrial site. Green roofs and new external landscaped spaces used throughout the project.
- Green roofs used as SUDS (Sustainable Urban Drainage System) and water recycled for grey water.
- Green internal social spaces with trees and planting within atria and maximized daylight. Windows to office spaces are open-able.
- Architectural design relates to industrial context and will activate a new plaza directly in front of the building.
- Building provides flexible office spaces for new ways of working: co-working spaces and start-ups.
- Structural frame allows for future changing working patterns focused on flexibility – the project can host one single tenant or many smaller tenants and can respond to the changing needs of the workplace.
- BREEAM Excellent
Project Credits
- Client: BESIX RED Luxembourg
- Architect: Foster + Partners
- Foster + Partners Team: Spencer de Grey, David Nelson, Stefan Behling, Darron Haylock, Matthew Hayhurst, Bob Ramsden, Joana Santos, Dimitris Themelis, Apostolos Despotidis, Max Li, Samson Simberg, Gavin Fung, Mohamad El Khayat, Anna Maria Malla, Hugh O’Connor
- Collaborating Architect: BFF (Beiler François Fritsch)
- Structural Engineers: NEY
- Mechanical Engineers: Greisch Luxembourg
- Cost Consultant: Q-Build Luxembourg
- Project Managers: Q-Build Luxembourg
- BREEAM Advisers: PwC
- Masterplan Landscaping: MDP
- Lighting Consultant: Greisch Luxembourg
- Technical Control: Secolux
- Acoustic Consultant: Venac
- Contractor: BESIX Group (BESIX / Lux TP)
- Tenant: Société Générale Luxembourg
