Other denominations
ING Bruxelles-Marnix
Original use
Administrative purposes/office spaces
Current use
Administrative purposes/office spaces
Architects
SOM ( Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP ), Gordon Bunshaft
Concrete by reinforcement
Concrete is a relatively brittle material that is strong in compression but less so in tension.
To increase its overall strength, steel rods, wires, mesh or cables may be embedded in concrete before it sets. This reinforcement, often known as rebar, resists tensile forces. By forming a strong bond, the two materials are able to resist a variety of applied forces, effectively acting as a single structural element .
Construction method
PRECAST ON SITE:
In larger and more complex construction projects, a concrete production plant may be installed on the construction site or nearby. The precast elements are moved into place once they have reached their maximum strength. This reduces transportation costs and ensures the concrete will set in the same environmental conditions as the building site. This may be more necessary with structures that combine cast-in-place concrete with prefabricated elements.
PRECAST IN FACTORY, WORKSHOP:
Any concrete element can be manufactured ahead of time and transported to the site once it has set. In this case, the control over geometry, appearance, finish and strength can be as strict as necessary. It can also be ensured that the pieces will be exactly identical to one another.
Prefabricated elements can be of any type: from façade panels and pavements to decorative elements (such as cornices or capitals) and structural elements (columns, slabs, beams, etc.).
These elements may be part of a commercial catalog or specially designed for a specific project. A series of pieces may also be sold as a coordinated and interconnected system to build a complete structure or even an entire building.
Architectural concrete
Structural types
Beams are the horizontal load-bearing elements of the frame. Columns are the vertical elements of the frame and act as the building’s primary load-bearing element. They transmit the beam loads down to the foundations.
State of Conservation
Description
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) is an American multinational architecture and engineering firm. Their extensive work includes countless skyscrapers and corporate headquarters in cities around the world, and they had a decisive influence on the development of downtowns in the late-20th century and the model’s export to Asia in the early 2000s. The firm, which has outlived its three founders, has received more than 800 awards for architecture and design, and it currently operates eight offices on three continents.
Despite its huge production, work by SOM in continental Europe is scarce compared to its presence in the UK, America or Asia. Moreover, the projects have a slightly different nuance: their skyscrapers – characterized by glass façades and a forceful structural expression, commonly making use of steel – do not always find, in European cities, an urban or cultural context that will allow them to develop fully. Unlike other works by SOM, the building in Brussels has a classical composition, slightly reminiscent of a Renaissance palace, with its imposing volume, its proportions and the characteristic triple horizontal division into base, body and crown.
As such, the corporate headquarters of Bank Brussels Lambert, now part of ING, is a unique building in SOM’s work, characterized by its façade of exquisitely executed prefabricated pieces, in which concrete, rather than glass or steel, plays a predominant role. The façade is also load-bearing, which leaves the interior largely free of structural elements. The detail of the stainless steel joints between the concrete pieces, which clearly expresses their function as an articulation, adds to the building a small reminder of the technological image that is the hallmark of the firm.
Belgium
Avenue Marnix 24
Région Bruxellois (Brussels Capital Region) 1000 Brussels
Commission
1959
Completion
1960