New Soag Building - composites bring innovative architectural design to life

Exel Composites is supplying the distinctive 37 meter long white profiles which will wrap around the new Soag Building for Study of Social Work on the University College Ghent’s Schoonmeersen Campus.

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The building has been designed by Slovenian architects Sadar+Vuga, specialists in open, innovative and integral architectural design and urban planning. Their concept is a new school environment – ‘a hybrid studyscape’ – where students, teachers, visitors and the general public can meet, interact, study, work and play. There is space for meetings, gatherings, informal events, performances and exhibitions, as well as for study and work. The structure communicates with its immediate surroundings via a permeable shading membrane made up of horizontal composite lamellas which wrap around the building’s glass façade.

Exel’s glass fibre composite profiles were chosen for this application for their ease of installation and ability to meet the demanding aesthetic requirements of the project. The design freedom possible with composite materials enables the shapes envisaged by the architect to be realised.

The Benelux division of the international construction group STRABAG is in charge of the Soag project. This month, the concrete works for the building were completed and mock-up tests of the composite lamellas performed. Construction is scheduled to be finished by mid-2018.

Exel has extensive experience in developing composite structures for challenging applications in the building and construction market, where lightweight, durable and sustainable composites are finding increasing application.