ArcelorMittal

It will showcase the numerous advantages of steel over other construction materials while emphasising the extent to which steel can be used in buildings which are more “green” and environmentally friendly. ArcelorMittal will also make some of its space available for rental. Also in the building, which will house 800 employees, there will be a restaurant, a fitness room and a 200-seat auditorium accessible to the public. Wilmotte’s concept is a response to a very specific request to create a modern, environmentally sound building which exploits all the potential of steel at every level of construction.

The result will be a truly unique building which includes a number of architectural “firsts”, including innovative features and properties resulting from close collaboration between the architect and the ArcelorMittal Research and Development teams. The innovative technical features include:

•  the use of a suspended exoskeleton creating an open, adaptable ground floor space, free of support columns
• an integrated floor system made entirely of steel, avoiding recourse to false ceilings and providing high quality acoustics and improved aesthetics.
• a curtain wall made entirely of steel, enabling the construction of a building which is lighter and better ventilated owing to the greater resistance and flexibility of steel
• new profiled sections adapted from products designed for the automobile industry

The Wilmotte plan also satisfies the ArcelorMittal desire for an environmentally sound building which showcases the role of steel in a circular economy. The building adheres to the “cradle-to-cradle” concept which means it can be dismantled and the steel can be almost entirely reused in a new construction without having to undergo a recycling process. The building is also low in energy consumption and in carbon emissions. It will be certified “BREEAM Exceptional”, “DGNB Gold” and “BBCA”. The environmental certification includes solar powered electricity via 4 000 square metres of photovoltaic cells in ArcelorMittal steel on the roof, rainwater management and automatically opening windows for natural ventilation. The public atrium will be bioclimatic, with ventilation provided by a Canadian well heat-exchanger system which naturally cools the air in summer and warms it in winter. The atrium is designed to evoke the Luxembourg countryside and will be home to trees and plants in a forest-like setting, also bringing environmental benefits as it will act as a temperature moderator. The building’s very position, at the furthermost part of the section of land, will create other green spaces and thus form new public areas. The building will also receive a “WELL” gold certification.