Name
Royale Belge
City
Brussels
Year
2023
Architect
René Stapels and Pierre Dufau
Country
Belgium

Designed in the mid-sixties by renowned architects René Stapels and Pierre Dufau, the Royale Belge building in Brussels was home to insurance company AXA until 2017. It was then sold and slated for complete renovation with a view to transforming it into a mixed-use complex that would respect the building’s heritage value.

AGC-AXA Royale Belge

For this project, the facade glazing was particularly important, since the Royale Belge is an iconic listed building. When it was built, the facade of the cruciform tower was originally glazed with a product which at that time was called Stopray Gold 40/27, a gold-coloured glazing that was very popular in the sixties but which did not let much natural light into the building.

Since the renovation had to respect the building’s heritage value, the challenge lay in finding a glazing that delivered better natural light throughput and enhanced energy performance while maintaining the same colour and appearance from the outside. To that end, AGC’s Coating on Demand service created a special custom coating with the same colour and appearance on the outside as the original gold-coloured glazing from the sixties, but which also lets in far more natural light and delivers better energy performance!

In the end, the facade was glazed with 9,000 m² of Coating on Demand, the base of the building with 1,500 m² of OverSized Glass ipasol Ultraselect 62/29 (1725 x 7432 mm) and the mezzanine level with 2,000 m² of ipasol Ultraselect 62/29 solar control glass.

AGC - Royale Belge
AGC - Royale Belge
AGC - Royale Belge
AGC - Royale Belge
AGC - Royale Belge
AGC - Royale Belge