The modern exterior of the European Investment Bank in Luxembourg, designed by Christoph Ingenhoven, featuring a sleek glass facade that reflects the institution's commitment to transparency and sustainability.
The modern exterior of the European Investment Bank in Luxembourg, designed by Christoph Ingenhoven, featuring a sleek glass facade that reflects the institution's commitment to transparency and sustainability.
PROJECTS / EUROPEAN INVESTMENT BANK
A horizontal skyscraper on the Kirchberg plateau
In 2002, Christoph Ingenhoven won the international competition to extend the European Investment Bank (EIB) in Luxembourg. The new building, characterized by its transparency, environmental awareness, and energy conservation, provides the Bank with a new identity. The design reinterprets the skyscraper system, resembling a high-rise laid on its side at ground level and enclosed by a large vaulted glass envelope measuring approximately 13,000 square meters.
Located at the edge of the Kirchberg plateau, an area known for its European authorities, banks, and cultural venues designed by renowned architects, the EIB building aligns with the urban development plan by Ricardo Bofill. One of its straight facades faces Boulevard Kirchberg, while the curved glass roof connects the building to the valley and its landscape features. The design incorporates internal atriums and terraces that reflect the surrounding landscape, integrating halls, restaurants, conference rooms, and public facilities. The glass envelope acts as an umbrella over the dynamic V-shaped office tracts, linked by triangular atriums and conservatories.
The temperature-controlled atriums serve as heat buffers, playing a crucial role in the building's internal climate control. Openings in the glass roof help regulate atrium temperatures. These spaces provide relaxation areas for staff, natural ventilation to offices, and reduce energy consumption and CO2 emissions.
The office floors offer flexible, reversible layouts with non-hierarchical workspaces. The absence of suspended ceilings allows concrete decks to be used as heat storage elements. Natural materials like wood in the interior enhance the building's sustainable and transparent feel. Open areas and break spaces promote staff communication. Despite its size, the building maintains a sense of lightness and human scale.
Founded in 1958 to fund the European Union’s investments, the EIB expanded its activities from 2000 onwards. Christoph Ingenhoven successfully created a benchmark extension that complements the existing ensemble, constructed in Luxembourg’s European Quarter in 1980 and designed by British architect Denys Lasdun. The EIB office building is the first on the European continent to receive the British BREEAM "Excellent" certificate (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method), adding a unique architectural statement to the Luxembourg Kirchberg plateau.
Data
Competition 2002, 1st prize
Construction Start 2003
Completion 2008
Client European Investment Bank
GFA 70.000 m²
Green Building BREEAM Excellent
Credits
Structural design
Werner Sobek
Facade design
DS-Plan
Fire protection
BPK Klingsch
Landscape design
WKM Weber Klein Maas
Lighting design
Tropp
Mechanical services installations
HL-Technik, IC-Consult, pbe-Beljuli, S&E Consult, forming the M&E consortium
Vertical access design
TAW
Transportation engineering
Durth Roos
Conveyor technology
Jappsen-Ingenieure
Office organisation
Quickborner Team
Kitchen design
IGW, Walter Engineering Group
Awards
2013
Emilio Ambasz Award for Green Architecture
2010
WAN Awards, commercial sector
Green Good Design Award
Emilio Ambasz Award for Green Architecture
2009
Europäischer Architekturpreis Architektur + Energie
International Architecture Award
Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design
RIBA International Award; Concours Construction Acier
Emirates Glass LEAF Award, Best Sustainable Development, nominated
Mies van der Rohe Award, nominated
DETAIL Preis Sonderpreis Glas, nominated
2007
MIPIM Architectural Review Future Project Award, recognition
