Multifunctional, flexible, energy-neutral and extremely sustainable: the garage of the future is in Anderlecht

In late 2018, D'Ieteren Immo, in partnership with the Brussels Master Builder, launched an architectural competition for the redevelopment of a 10,400 m² site located on the Anderlecht canal zone that not only creates employment opportunities but also provides housing for innovative, creative and commercial activities.

The winning design team including Xaveer De Geyter Architects (XDGA) succeeded in translating the ambitious vision of the real estate branch responsible for managing the real estate assets owned by D'Ieteren Group into a concrete plan for a bold, mixed urban-industrial project with a total area of 35,000 m² to be developed.

The "Mobilis" project - a reflection of the maxim "Mobilis in mobili" from Jules Verne's novel - was named one of eight winners in the prestigious "Be Circular" competition by the Brussels Capital Region in late 2020.

The wind and watertight construction was entrusted to the West Flemish construction company Alheembouw of Oostnieuwkerke.

Sustainable & ecological

The existing building was dismantled in a circular way, with maximum reuse of recovered materials. With its energy-neutral and climate-proof character, Mobilis will excel in sustainability by applying photovoltaic solar panels, geothermal energy and maximum reuse of rainwater. Natural daylight will be optimized by the striking organically curved glass facades and well thought-out incidence of light on the patios.

The new building, located on the corner of Industrielaan and Paapsemlaan, is literally and figuratively the cornerstone of an ambitious vision in which flexibility, innovation and sustainability are central. Mobilis' ambition is therefore to become the first multifunctional industrial building with a "BREEAM Outstanding certification".

Flexibility as the greatest asset

The building concept that envisions a 100-year life span of the primary structure (N+02 and N+04) combined with flexible mezzanines (N+01 and N+03) is the result of innovative thinking that allows the spaces within the building to always be easily adapted to the evolving needs of the activities.

Besides the "garage of the future" for Volkswagen, Skoda and Seat/Cupra, the project will accommodate a diversity of urban industry, productive activities and commercial functions in the broadest form, up to and including the roof where "urban farming" can be practiced.

Mobilis thus becomes a model building for new urban industry with a vision that fully aligns with D'Ieteren Immo's long-term vision.

Architectural feat

The footprint of the building is approximately 6,800m² where the primary structure rests on 25 concrete columns of 12 meters high complemented by 7 steel columns and 4 rigid cores that provide horizontal stability. Taking into account the expansion joints in two directions, one can speak of a very minimalist structure, to say the least.

Luc De Cock, head of internal structural engineering at Alheembouw: "This project presented several challenges. The primary concrete floors (N+02 and N+04) consist of on-site poured post-tensioned wafer floors with a span of 16.2m x 16.2m. The secondary steel-concrete floors are suspended from the primary (wafer) floors. Specifically, this means that we have realized a building with a double-height span (the usual standard is 8m x 8m) and double-height floors with floor loads twice as high as normal. As a result, the calculated deformations of the structure are eight times greater than for a "normal" structure. Needless to say, we paid extreme attention to coordinating these calculated deformations with traditional, minimalist finishing details."

Work of considerable scope

Pieter Onraet, Director of Total Projects at Alheembouw, said, "The amount of materials and raw materials processed shows that the Mobilis project is anything but a run-of-the-mill job. The building rests on a foundation of 220 screw piles and 58 bored piles up to 36 meters below ground level (diameter 0.97m to 1.83m) with post-injection. For the underground parts of the structure, we realized a construction pit with an earth movement of 32,000 m³ and 340 running meters of berliner wall as shoring. No less than 34,000 m³ of concrete was incorporated into the huge column and beam structure. The amount of steel - 2,720 tons of rebar and 1,250 tons of profile steel - is also quite noteworthy. The fact that we needed about 2.5 years for the entire shell construction process is therefore justified by the above figures."