ESA IMF is the representative building of the ESA ESTEC campus located in the Netherlands

We are proud to announce that RINA has just delivered the detailed design of the ESA International Meeting Facility – IMF for its client European Space Agency – ESA.

A long-lasting collaboration between RINA and ESA

The good collaboration and bond with its client ESA have been going on since 2018, when we have developed the Site Evolution Plan of the ESA ESTEC campus. In fact, in the decades since the inauguration of ESA ESTEC in 1968, ESTEC has grown into ESA’s largest establishment, and the technical and organizational hub of Europe’s space agency.

Therefore, we have been appointed to complete a masterplan study aimed at reconsidering the ESTEC campus general layout in the long term in order to increase its capacity to host meetings, conferences, symposia and workshops with a large number of external participants.

What is the ESA IMF?

The ESA IMF is an iconic and representative building of the ESA ESTEC campus located in Noordwijk aan Zee, The Netherlands. We have provided engineering and management services for the development of the concept, basis, and detailed design of the building. During the detailed design phase, the RINA Design Team has worked jointly with ESA and the contractor Rizzani de Eccher in a ‘Building Team’ set-up, aimed at delivering the best quality as per ESA standards with also a special attention to the construction know-how of Rizzani de Eccher.

In this framework, the International Meeting Facility – IMF is one of the key elements of the reconfigured campus. The building has been designed to preserve and improve the feeling of an international community, where employees and visitors feel they are a part of an institution whose commitment is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. Its curved shaped façade and the internal dominant Grand Stairs make the building align within the context of the surrounding structures and at the same time stand out and be recognizable from afar.

Moreover, our design aimed at reaching the maximum comfort of all the employees who will work in the office areas of the building and visitors who will attend conferences and meetings, taking into account the latest regulations in terms of people health and the well-being, while also looking at innovative solutions for energy savings.