Céline Coubray: First of all, can you tell us about the history of Artbuild and its presence in Luxembourg?
David Roulin: Artbuild is an architectural practice that has been in existence for 35 years, since it was founded in Brussels in 1989. Today, we are active in three territories: Belgium, France and Luxembourg, where we have been present for 25 years. We have carried out a whole series of projects there over the years, many in the service sector. It wasn’t long before we started working with Tetra Kayser, and Christoph Lang in particular, on projects in Kirchberg. We’ve been around for a long time, although we’re often seen as Belgians who do architecture in Luxembourg. But we’ve forged a lot of links here and, over the last two years or so, we’ve transformed our satellite office activity into a real studio rooted in the area, developing its own activity, as we did in Paris 25 years ago.
How is the volume of business divided between these three areas?
DR: Today, our sales in France represent 45% of our total sales, also because the territory is so large. Luxembourg currently accounts for 15% of our total, but we are convinced that there is room for growth in this market. The question is how to make the most of our knowhow and expertise with projects that can have an impact on the region.
The Livingstone project, along the Route d’Esch in Luxembourg, includes a building designed by Artbuild. Photo: Georges De Kinder
One of your recent flagship projects in Luxembourg is Wooden, in Leudelange. How is it representative of your office?
DR: We were lucky enough to win the competition to build . We’re very proud of this building, because it’s a perfect example of what we know how to do, i.e., find the right expression in relation to both its context and its use. It’s an architecture that focuses on its occupants.
Wooden is a wooden office building in Leudelange, developed by Iko and BPI. Photo: Georges De Kinder
Architecture has always been innovative in terms of sustainable development. This goes back to the 2000s, with major projects that already included wastewater recycling and the notion of cradle to cradle in 2009, in Brussels. All our projects over the last 20 years or so have been an opportunity to innovate, to raise the bar in order to have a positive impact on the community, on individuals and on the planet. At the time, we did this intuitively and with conviction, but we realised that innovation is a discipline in its own right, which needs to be structured and legitimised by science and industry. So in 2016, when I became managing director, we decided to create a research and innovation laboratory, AB.Lab.
How does this research and innovation laboratory work?
DR: We have a team within the agency that works exclusively on research. This enables us to develop new technical solutions. Research means exploring what’s possible, thinking about how to build for the future. We work a lot on biomimicry, on inspiration from the living, because nature has always been able to invent forms that are perfectly adapted to the context and the use, while using nearby and natural raw materials.
It’s in this vein that we’ve developed, for example, shape-memory metal solar protection. These façade protectors are shaped like flowers that open when exposed to the sun. To develop this, we started with an intuition, then carried out research, drew up prototypes, worked with manufacturers and finally came up with a new product. The first application of this innovation was for the International Agency for Research on Cancer in Lyon. Today, we are on version three of this research, with continuous improvement.
Wooden is also a flagship building for timber construction in Luxembourg. What is your experience of this type of construction?
DR: It’s not about gimmicks or greenwashing, but about asking the question of tomorrow’s construction and the overall carbon footprint of architecture. We know that we can no longer build the way we have until now. Timber construction is part of this approach. As early as 2008, we began working on applications for CLT, which had just arrived from Austria. In 2013, we won a project for an eight-storey building in Paris, Opalia, which was the first high-rise wooden building in France and which has since been occupied by the public buildings of the City of Paris, which has made it its flagship.
Since then, we’ve won several projects, including a 16-storey timber-built residential tower in Bordeaux. And we still have other projects in wood... Wooden was our first wooden building outside France. We’re currently working on a major project in Brussels, which will be Infrabel’s headquarters at the Gare du Midi.
The Cité administrative in Amiens, France, is an example of a timber construction project carried out by Artbuild. Photo: Tristan Deschamps
You have just appointed Christoph Lang as your new partner. What is the make-up of your management team?
DR: 35 years is quite a long time. The office was founded by four partners: Pierre Lallemand, Marc Thill, Isidore Zielonka and Philippe Van Halteren. In the 2000s, until 2008, a series of new partners were added. In 2008, there were 15 partners, with a team of over 100 people. Between 2014 and 2016, we returned to four partners of the same generation: Steven Ware, Bruno Caballé, Christian Jadot and myself. For us, Luxembourg remains a country with significant room for growth. That’s why we approached Christophe to make him our fifth partner.
Christoph Lang: I started my career with Artbuild, with the K2 project in Kirchberg. Throughout my career, I have worked on projects in collaboration with this office. Our aim is to develop a Luxembourg office with its own team that will be able to work directly on projects here.
The K2 building in Kirchberg was designed by Artbuild and Tetra Kayser. Photo: Serge Brison
DR: But what’s interesting is that the group really functions as a single team. All our employees, wherever they are, are able to work in the three territories in which we operate. This allows us to optimise our knowhow and feedback. Ever since I became managing director, I’ve been campaigning for us to become a single nucleus. We share the same tools, the same methods. That’s another of our strengths.
What projects are you currently working on in Luxembourg, and which ones are still to come?
CL: We have with Immobel, which has been bought by the City of Luxembourg. We are also working on with BPI and Unibra. In addition, we are in the authorisation phase for the with Luxred. We have also carried out a feasibility study on the and will be developing a plot there with one of the owners. One way forward is to develop public projects. This is a niche where we are not yet present. And there’s one very important pillar, which is renovation and working with what already exists.
This article was originally published in .