Renovation of the European Space Agency’s research centre

The Milan-based Italian firm SBGA Blengini Ghirardelli with Openfabric and the Dutch consulting and engineering company Witteveen+Bos have been selected by ESA, the European Space Agency, to shape the renovation and expansion programme of ESTEC, the European Space Research and Technology Centre in Noordwijk, The Netherlands. The 160,000 sqm campus employs 2,800 people, including employees, researchers, space engineers and astronauts, who are actively engaged in technological development and space science research.

The project involves the redevelopment of the existing spaces and the construction of new structures that will help to consolidate the European centre's role as a key player on the international stage and will be developed over six years in stages to ensure the continuity of the centre's activities safely and unimpeded. The physical and “gravitational” core of the composition is Orbit, a central hub with a connective function around which the five buildings housing offices and laboratories spin like satellites. The new structures are designed under the banner of both functional and dimensional flexibility to meet the changing needs of users over time, thanks to the use of modular components; the predominant use of glass in the façades emphasises the ethical value of transparency and mutual interaction between people and the surrounding landscape.  

Agostino Ghirardelli, founding partner architect of SBGA Blengini Ghirardelli, speaks of “a sustainable project that supports world-class technological research”, while Ingrid Bolier, Witteveen+Bos' team leader for project management on complex buildings, states that “the concept of empathy (...) with the wishes and needs of users and stakeholders, but also in general in relation to the challenges of the transformation project, has been placed at the centre of the transformative concept”.

If here, more than anywhere else, thoughts fly to other planets, special attention is also paid to the environmental impact that the built work has on this planet: a park within the campus will promote natural water drainage and other climate adaptation solutions, while innovative technologies will aim to maximise energy saving and the use of renewable sources and will reduce the carbon footprint.