Just outside of Ghent, BEEL Architecten and Modulo Architects have completed the VIB Headquarters and Bio-Incubator. The eight-storey campus serves dual purpose: the lower levels house 6000 square metres of laboratory and office space for biotech start-ups, and the two top levels contain the new headquarters for VIB — the Flemish Institute for Biotechnology — accommodating 110 staff. The two programs are distinct, and the architectural design reflects this through both facade and massing. The building has achieved BREEAM Very Good certification with an Excellent rating for energy.
Exterior design and massing
Positioned parallel to Belgium’s busy E40 at the gateway to the science park, the building is conceived as a vertical screen that acts both as landmark and buffer for the science park behind it. The south facade serves as the building’s main identity: the incubator levels are treated as a rigid grid, and the VIB office floors cantilevering out above them. Clad in anodised aluminium, this sharp-edged creates a distinctive silhouette that the architects describe as a “periscope.”
This shift in massing creates space for two large patios on the upper levels, which bring daylight deep into the office floors while providing sheltered outdoor spaces with expansive views across the campus. The east and west facades are deliberately closed, reinforcing the building’s vertical presence along the motorway. The north facade, which faces the E40 directly, is completed with a transparent membrane behind which the building’s widened circulation spine and communal spaces are visible to passing traffic. Climbing plant nets cover this frontage, and are designed to grow to cover approximately 400 square metres of the building in time.
The building is primarily clad in custom golden ceramic tiles that have been installed using a Porcelanosa ventilated facade system. The colour and form were chosen for both durability and maintenance, and mark a distinct departure from the traditional red brick seen across surrounding buildings.
Interior design and floorplan
Inside, the 22 laboratory modules are organised around a daylight gradient: offices at the perimeter, laboratories in a second ring, and storage and secondary spaces requiring no natural light at the core. Modules can be connected or separated, allowing companies to expand laterally on the same floor as they grow. At the fourth floor, two courtyard gardens totalling 200 square metres bring light and greenery into the heart of the building: one is laid out as a relaxation terrace, the other as an informal meeting and presentation space. Running the full height of the highway-facing side, the interactive shell functions as a unifying element, a programmed social layer designed to generate the serendipitous encounters between tenants that are essential to the project's ambition to become both a creative and innovative hub.
Sustainable practices
The building was designed with a commitment to carbon-neutral operation, and all technical decisions flow from this ambition. No fossil fuels are used anywhere in the building — heating, cooling and electrical systems run on renewable energy generated on site and heat pump technology. Rainwater harvested from the roof, patios, gardens and green facades feed the building's toilet supply, reducing mains water consumption throughout. These green spaces also help reduce the urban heat island effect. At ground level, dedicated bicycle storage and a direct shuttle bus connection to Ghent Sint-Pieters station encourage more sustainable commuting. Together these measures helped the project secure BREEAM certification: Very Good overall and Excellent for energy.
