BENG glass Hybrid for transformation Universe

The Green Campus

Universe, located in the Binckhorst business park, has 11 floors. It was part of the former, so-called "The Green Campus," a large-scale office complex for KPN with twelve different buildings on Maanplein. The building has some 22,000 square meters of office space and has a parking garage with two hundred spaces. Rijksvastgoedbedrijf (RVB) bought it in 2023 to contribute to good housing for government employees in The Hague.

This 1998 building folds around a courtyard and in use becomes an extremely environmentally friendly building, an example of sustainable transformation and circular design. Cepeced says on its site that "At first glance, Universe is a rather compelling building, with many corners and height differences. But there are also qualities, such as the long sightlines and the semicircular, high space on the courtyard garden.'

Sustainable with BENG glass hybrid

Another major ambition is to achieve no waste of existing materials during the renovation. The material released during construction is used elsewhere in the building. The building envelope is also specifically preserved and, as with the structural breakthroughs, the elements to be removed are reused. For example, the facade glazing that needed replacement is used in new, bio-based interior wall systems.

The ambition not to waste any existing material also influenced the decision to use BENGglas® Hybrid. The original business case calculated with existing window frames and new triple glass with new glass frames as the method. JP van Eesteren came on the trail of vacuum glass and by implementing the hybrid, i.e. with an additional counter window, the existing aluminum window frames including glass frames could be retained. This view turned out to be perfectly in line with the philosophy behind the transformation of the building.

By eliminating the cost of removal, disposal and installation, applying BENGglas® Hybrid came out of the equation stronger.

At the pinnacle of innovation

BENGglas® is a new generation of insulating glass from 6.7 to 16.3 millimeters thick with a vacuum cavity of 0.3 millimeters and a vacuum level of <0.1 Pa. Vacuum glass offers thermal insulation significantly lower than that of triple glazing: values from 0.34 to 0.49 versus 0.7 W/m2K. However, the glass is much thinner and lighter than comparable triple glazing. In addition, the unique edge connection is so solid and durable through the use of a patented Titanium Technology, that it has at least twice the lifespan while maintaining the exact U-value, even at an angle of inclination. BENGglas® also allows you to significantly reduce the thickness of new frames and windows, drastically reducing the quantities of raw materials you need. These features help reduce CO2 emissions, both during production (100% from solar and hydro energy) and during use. BENG glass® can easily be implemented as burglar-resistant, fall-through and fire-resistant safety glass. With a hybrid product, i.e. with a counterpane, and the use of thermally broken ('warm edge') spacers, you improve the insulation value even further. This 'thicker' variant also allows you to use the glass in renovation or transformation in existing frames.