New building for Galapagos BV, Oegstgeest: Transparent and dynamic facade of aluminum and glass

Anyone driving along the A44 motorway near Oegstgeest can hardly fail to notice it: at the Leiden Bio Science Park the finishing touches are being put on the inviting and modern new building for pharmaceutical research company Galapagos BV, in which approximately 14,000 m² LFA of office and laboratory space will be clustered. While a curtain wall ensures maximum transparency and light, the anodized aluminum canopies by Aldowa give the building a special dynamic.

The new building is being built on behalf of Provast. Development contractor De Vries en Verburg is responsible for the construction, based on a design by OZ Architects. Aldowa was engaged for the engineering, production and assembly of the aluminum canopies. "In its design, OZ Architects pushed the boundaries of what was technically possible," says project manager Richard Sliep. "Thinking along at an early stage was necessary to further shape the design and make it technically feasible and doable. De Vries en Verburg recognized this and therefore involved Aldowa at an early stage. Together with curtain wall builder Wijnveen Aluminium bv we came up with a smart solution. At an early stage we worked out all the facade details in 2D. In the process, we solved several tricky connections and bottlenecks, in close consultation with the architect and with Provast." After approval, engineer Antigoni Lampadiari translated the design information into a 3D model. "From this model the production in our plant in Rotterdam is controlled," she says. "Also, the 3D model is our assembly drawing."

High quality awnings

At the base of the Aldowa canopies are composite aluminum consoles. "These consoles are attached to the topsky anchors of the curtain wall, ensuring easy and fast assembly," Sliep said. "The consoles are composed of angled omega profiles with a center-to-center distance of 1,800 mm, combined with vertical tubes, which are coupled with a flowing welded connection." Lampadiari: "On both the top and bottom of the brackets, the aluminum cassette panels are attached by hand, creating high-quality aluminum canopies. All cassette elements are anodized in bronze (Alubronze02)." In order to guarantee as few color nuances as possible, project-specific quality requirements have been established for the anodizing process as well as for the welded joints of the corner panels, for example.

Challenging corner panels

According to Sliep, the biggest challenge in this project was in the engineering and production of the large round corner panels. "These corner panels consist of several parts, which have to be set, rolled and welded separately and exactly to size," he says. "Otherwise the panels won't fit into the back construction." To ensure smooth execution, Aldowa made a number of test panels in advance. Based on these, a few more optimizations were made, after which production and assembly started. "We were commissioned to be completely self-sufficient in execution. To ensure efficient progress, we start assembly as soon as the curtain wall builder is finished with the curtain wall. Once a curtain wall is standing, we install our consoles and cassette panels." In total, Aldowa assembles approximately 990 façade consoles, 1,900 m¹ of canopies and 410 m¹ of dormer panels.