Glass facade concept with integrated shading for Hannibal office

Case study: joint project between Renson and Reynaers Aluminium

When designing the new office for Hannibal of Roeselare, at least one thing was clear: there had to be light! A glass facade is an obvious choice, but with the sun on the facade, the building quickly becomes a greenhouse. Moreover, reflection on computer screens poses a problem. With this project, Renson and Reynaers Aluminium demonstrated that they could integrate a minimalist fabric sunshade into a glass facade. A case study. 

"A design never comes from an architect alone," explains Sander Verhanneman of ROHM Architects. "For his new office, Hannibal especially wanted to preserve the character of the garden, so we kept the footprint of the building as small as possible. That did mean we had to go for three floors, but fortunately the city of Roeselare went along with that. 

Budget-wise, we conceived this project as "industrial," but that gray and austere gives tranquility in contrast with the green of the garden. This is extended inside, as it were, and becomes part of the interior. For example, the glass facades on the first and second floors - conceived as a duplex landscape office with especially a lot of view to the outside - ensure that you look straight into the treetops. Inside and outside thus literally blend together here. With a glass facade front and back, you look right through the building, which gives a great openness and makes the interior bathed in light."

Light inside and view outside

This was a very conscious choice for Kristof Carrein, one of Hannibal's business managers: "The 'creative warriors' of our advertising agency prefer natural light to update their photography, determine color choices and review ads. So plenty of natural light was a prerequisite in our new office building." But the glass facades also prove their usefulness in reverse. "The view of the city garden gives peace of mind when you're inside!" 

Preventing reflection and overheating

Of course, a lot of glass does carry the risk of overheating on sunny days. At the front of the building - facing northwest - this was not so much of a danger, but for the south façade at the back, shading was a necessity. "For a glass façade like this, exterior shading is simply the most efficient way to prevent it from quickly getting too hot inside on hot days," Sander Verhanneman explains the choice of screens. "This has also proven to be the case in previous office projects. We often choose dark screens then because they offer more transparency and maintain maximum visibility to the outside." What also factored into the choice of cloth blinds was that they would prevent annoying reflections in the computer screens. 

Architectural glass facade with screens

The glass facades were realized by Lein Aluminium from Zonnebeke. This company has worked with both Reynaers Aluminium and Renson before, who had just introduced their joint new development for glass facades and fabric sun protection.

"This project was quite a challenge," case manager Jan Lein knows. "Visually the front and rear facades are the same, but in the rear facade the screens are nicely integrated. Therefore, the front facade also does not have standard aluminum glass facade profiles. Such architectural glass facades are never standard and require follow-up from design to final stage. In the rear façade, a Reynaers Aluminium ConceptWall 50 was combined with the Renson Fixscreen Minimal Curtain Wall 50 for the first time. 

"Our main concern was to integrate the screens neatly and tightly into the curtain wall," says Sander Verhanneman. "Because no standard clamping frame was used here, we worked with Reynaers, Renson and Lein to find the most suitable solution. The new combination solution from Renson and Reynaers turned out to be a hit. Previously with curtain walls we had to make do with fabric awnings that were not quite compatible, but in this case we were able to achieve a tighter result that did not detract from the design at all!"

Reynaers Aluminum x Renson

"Reynaers Aluminium and Renson have found each other in the ambition to realize beautiful projects," says Mieke Tielemans of Renson. "Our joint R&D departments have found the perfect match for a glass facade with fabric sun protection. Through close cooperation, we have reduced the number of profiles from five to three: the cover profile and base clamping strip from Reynaers Aluminium and the torque side guide from Renson. It allows for smooth processing and the execution looks peaky." 

Pleasant building with charisma

One year after Hannibal's move, business manager Kristof Carrein is still very pleased with the new office. "The building contributes to the appearance of our company and in that respect we appear to have made the right choices. Moreover, it is pleasant to work there thanks to the integrated screens that do not in any way detract from the sleek facades."