The Vandemoortele Group’s ‘Food Experience Centre’ in Ghent has been designed as a material bank. The steel supporting structure is fully detachable, modular and adaptable, as are the curtain wall systems that envelope the building structure. The HE 280 A columns along the facade line taper upwards to HEA 180 columns on the third level, whilst the girders consist mainly of HEA profiles. Four walkways in the atrium establish a connection between the east and west facades; the largest of these in the middle has two vertical struts in the form of 60.3 x 4 mm tubular profiles anchored to the shed roof. The steel-plate-and-concrete floor is 11 cm high to guarantee a fire resistance of R60, and the main structure of the shed roofs is made of four-part S355 girders with a span of 18.6 m and a height of 1.74 m. For the most heavily loaded four-part girders, square K220/10 box sections were used as top and bottom rails. The vertical posts are made of square K220/8 tubular profiles.
