Transparent Interactions: European Investment Bank

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Connecting to the urban fabric of the site and yet merging with the surrounding landscape, multinational architectural firm Ingenhoven have derived a glassy roof for the European Investment Bank, Luxembourg.

Nestled between Sir Denys Lasdun’s existing buildings on Luxembourg’s Kirchberg plateau on one side and landscape on the other, the new headquarters for European Investment Bank (EIB) by multinational architectural firm, Ingenhoven , carves a modern identity for itself by extending a new style to the existing labyrinth. It exudes a frank and open relationship with its surroundings through extensive use of glass. The expansive space encompasses office space and other amenities for 750 employees over 72,500sqm of area.

Enclosing the functionality, the architects have contrived a tubular glass roof which acts as the key element of the design. The layout unfolds in a non-linear format, breaking apart from the stereotype office layouts. Inclusion of ecological concepts in its design is led by the curving of the glass roof around the floor plates to form atriums in the V-shaped converging gaps of the building wings. The green credentials of the building respond to the landscaped winter gardens that have been formed on the valley side of the structure. The glass atriums on the other side- a part of the circulatory spine- vary in the temperature levels leaning more on the zone temperatures for human comfort. All the atriums are freshly ventilated and enable heat reduction through openable flaps in the exterior shell. The volume in its entirety induces a clarity and transparency by encasing glass on a lightweight steel framework.

The unlimited views, ventilation and light manifest the interiors as a part of the larger context. In addition to all that, the structure offers individual control through mechanical systems that manipulate the lighting, sun shading, heating, cooling and ventilation. Integration of such systems have ensured minimal environmental disturbance owing to which the new EIB was the first building to be assessed under UK’s BREEAM scheme and achieve a very good rating for the same.

The interiors of the office space are reversible workspaces which can be re-arranged to follow various configurations without re-furnishing. The new headquarters have been conceived in a connective format which intersect the existing complex at multiple levels thereby creating ‘open interaction zones’.

Rendering an open volumetric dialogue with the contextual environs coupled with state-of-art technological mechanisms, the new headquarters with its tubular glass roof reflects the priorities of the European Investment Bank.

Text Compilation: Maanasi Hattangadi

Photographs: courtesy Ingenhoven

Architects Website: www.ingenhovenarchitects.com