Symobo BEN office building - Kampenhout

To meet the growth of our company, we joined Symobo in the spring of 2017 for ourselves. We are building a BEN office building for our own use. We did this a stone's throw from our then rented office on the Haachtsesteenweg in Kampenhout.

With this own project, we didn't just want to build a future-proof office. We also wanted to show that industrial prefabricated construction can be extremely sustainable. After all, in our opinion, that is where the future lies for steel construction and modular construction. We have concretized that vision in an almost energy-neutral office building.

What does BEN mean in this context?
In terms of architecture, we opted for an extremely compact volume and a composition that is not too sensitive to temperature changes. Energy demand is limited by the use of high-performance devices and intelligent control. The energy is generated by means of a heat pump and solar panels. The types of glass used are adapted to location and specific situation.

The new Symobo base became a compact, modern and striking building.

The design by architect Tom Cortoos reconciles the two conflicting environments in which the building is located: a quiet residential area and the busy Haachtsesteenweg. The architect explains it this way: “It has become a building with a janus face, with a homely look at the residential area and an industrial image towards the road. The concrete panels of the south façade are hidden from view on the district side by a pink brick façade in order to achieve the desired homely image.”

Steel construction
Our new building is a steel structure that was prepared in the workshop and assembled on site within 2 days. Insulated concrete panels were attached to the steel structure. These panels are a sandwich with a 12 cm thick insulation board between the two concrete plates. The lightweight metal roof is supported by a cantilevered steel structure.

Functionality is an asset
Inside, the Symobo office exudes functionality. The ground floor is half utilitarian with storage, sanitary facilities and a technical room. The other half is used for reception and meeting rooms. The white steel structure and concrete panels are left visible here: What You See Is What You Get. This is also an interesting space to show potential customers what a steel structure can look like.

The first floor houses an open and bright landscape office organized. With the exception of the south façade, the facades are fully glazed. The glass was always tailored to the specific situation; transparent in the north façade with a view of the road, green solar control glass in the east and insulated glass shelves that block the view in the west.

Because — of course, or what did you think — we opted for prefab, we were able to build our own building very quickly. It stood at 5 months.

““It has become a building with a janus face, with a homely image of the residential area and an industrial image of the road. The concrete panels of the south façade are hidden from view on the neighborhood side by a pink brick façade in order to obtain the desired homely image.” - Tom Cortoos, architect”