Unique, aesthetic and ecological

Ghent Diamond

CHALLENGE

The Ghent Diamond is proudly overlooking the Ghent-Sint-Pieters railway station and surrounding neighbourhood. On top of a stonelike base with a pattern inspired by the city of Ghent’s historical architecture, an impressive crystalline edifice rises. The 33m high office building has – as the name indicates – not only the brilliance, but also the shape of a gigantic, polished diamond with numerous facets. The special design makes the building unique, and that is exactly where the difficulty lies: roof surfaces with different inclines, steep and hard-to-reach slopes, kinks in the façade and a serious wind load. On the pitched roof segments connecting the glass facade, an exterior roof finish with Linius RENSON blades is to be installed. Just for aesthetic reasons! Such a finish creates a nice play of light, shadow and reflection. But this can only be achieved if the finish has been executed perfectly! But how to execute the construction so precisely, and at the same time be perfectly watertight? A true challenge for both architect and roofing contractor.

SOLUTION

For the internationally renowned New York-based architects practice Asymptote this monumental Diamond project is just another jewel in the crown. Innovative and visionary, they always pursue extreme and experimental challenges. And yes, this impressive Diamond really was a challenge, especially for the Belgian ROTEAM roof experts. The special shape, the height and the different slopes up to 47° made it a complex, gargantuan waterproofing project. On top of the steel deck structure tongue and groove insulation panels were installed. This guarantees a strong, perfectly fitting and smooth construction. After all this is very important in order to achieve this monumental task. The high wind load and shear forces were decisive for the choice of roofing membrane to be used on this difficult structure. Asymptote architects therefore opted for the mechanically fastened RENOLIT ALKORPLAN F membrane. This PVC-P roofing membrane is specifically suited for such a project, thanks mainly to its flexibility, lightweight and long life.