Construction of the new European Medicines Agency (EMA) headquarters was officially completed on 15 November 2019. The 19-floor building, designed by architect Fokke van Dijk of the Dutch Central Government Real Estate Agency, is 81 metres tall and clad in approximately 10,500 m2 of facade elements.
It features nearly 4,800 m2 of curtain walls and around 6,750 metres of formed sheet metal for the shading fins. On the ground floor, over 100 ornamental columns are clad in distinctive black Microbeton. Microbeton also supplied 60 slanting elements, benches and seating elements which were alternately placed between these columns. The edging elements were also produced using a special concrete mix.
Lightweight facade elements with special recessing
We were contracted by the EMA Building Consortium (Dura Vermeer and Heijmans) to provide the engineering, production and delivery of the lightweight concrete elements for the ground floor. Not only do the (ornamental) columns place the building firmly on the ground, but they are also vandal proof. Compared to conventional concrete, the columns are 60 to 70 percent lighter, significantly reducing the demands placed on the structure. The columns lead up to the aluminium fins above. To fit in with the exceptional aesthetics of the fins, we created special recesses in the columns.
Edging panels with a unique plant structure
For the lush roof garden, Microbeton created slim and lightweight concrete edging panels as thin as 4 cm. The panels have a unique plant structure, in three variations.
