A new office building for imec featuring office spaces, meeting rooms, laboratories, and a marketplace with hybrid work and meeting areas.
Imec 6 office building
Leuven
IMEC 6 is nestled in the heart of the existing campus: an elevated site where the valley, the Voer River, and the surrounding natural landscape converge. The choice of this location—outside the flood-prone zone—offers the opportunity to rethink the entire southwestern cluster as one open landscape. By removing hard surfaces and reconnecting fragmented areas, meadows, ponds, and wooded slopes are woven together once again.
The building consists of two compact tower volumes rising from a shared plinth, connected to the existing buildings via a new skybridge. Thanks to its strategic positioning—partly hovering above Steengroevenlaan—a valuable portion of the green heart is preserved, while leaving space for future expansion without disturbing the valley.
The plinth forms an inviting base for employees and visitors, where the entrance area unfolds into a generous marketplace organized around a light-filled patio. A central staircase connects the two more public levels, turning the plinth into an informal, open environment for meeting and exchange.
In the upper structure, two towers accommodate a range of functions: the meeting district on the west side and three laboratory floors in the eastern tower, centrally connected via the skybridge to the existing network of skybridges. Above, office floors for 1.000 employees are arranged according to the smart workplace principle.
At the core lies the cross-collaboration zone: an informal, vibrant space that intentionally draws employees away from their individual workstations. Here, kitchenettes, social areas, touchdown spaces, and meeting rooms are brought together. Through open staircases and skybridges, a continuous network is created—a backbone of interaction where spontaneous encounters fuel innovation.
The architecture translates the program into a subtle differentiation of façades. The outer façades of the towers are clad in light-blue ceramic panels, anchoring the building within its green surroundings. The inner façades of the cross-collaboration zones are maximally opened up. They function as transparent cuts through the volume, making movement, rhythm, and connectivity within the building visible.
The distinctive training room on the top floor once again enters into dialogue with the site, orienting itself toward the northern part of the campus.
IMEC 6 thus becomes a landmark within its surroundings: a building that connects landscape and campus, where architecture lays the foundation for collaboration and innovation.
Program
Offices, Research
Status
In execution
Theme
Innovative program, Cross-pollination
Construction cost
€89.975.853
Start design
2023
Start execution
2025
Client
imec vzw
Area
29.645m²
Contractor
TM Cordeel - CIT Blaton
Photographer
© Frame
Location
Leuven
Procedure
Private assignment
Designteam
TM BEEL - BB - NEY - DAIDALOS - BUUR - ARCADIS ism. VK en FBO
MEP
Arcadis Belgium
Structure
Ney & Partners
Acoustics
Daidalos Peutz
Landscape
BUUR
Other engineering company
Executing architect: Bureau Bouwtechniek
