The union of concrete and nature in the work of Govaert & Vanhoutte Architects
Architecture
When a concrete manufacturer commissions its own headquarters, the material is the whole argument the building has to make. Govaert & Vanhoutte Architects designed that brief for Enjoy Concrete, a Belgian producer of concrete elements based in Veurne, in the country's west.
Enjoy Concrete works with concrete as a refined material rather than a purely structural one - the company describes working with it as a craft in its own right. That framing set the terms for the whole project: the building itself had to demonstrate what the material could do.
The Brief and the Building
Govaert & Vanhoutte faced a difficult brief: create a structure noticeable enough to represent the company, without disrupting the surrounding landscape, while combining offices and production under one roof - and using concrete as the primary material throughout, since it's the company's own product.
The solution turns Enjoy Concrete's headquarters into a single, massive concrete volume, built from slabs measuring 6 by 3 meters. The building splits into two functional halves: offices at the front, production at the rear.
The meeting room gives the building its character. It shares the same proportions as the rest of the structure, but cantilevers nearly 12.5 meters past the building's edge. At first glance the projecting volume looks almost too light to hold itself up, but steel reinforcement within the concrete carries the load. At night, the room glows red, lit by fixtures built into the panoramic windows.
How the Building's "Hidden" Image Works
The building's other signature feature only reveals itself from a distance: a large-scale image, visible on the facade, that resolves into a pattern of trees along the Damme canal once you're far enough away. This is made possible by Graphic Concrete, a patented Finnish technique that works only with precast concrete elements, not poured-in-place construction.
The process is elegant: a surface retarder is printed onto a membrane in the exact pattern of the desired image, and that membrane is placed at the bottom of the precast mold before the concrete is poured. Once the concrete cures and the panel is removed from the mold, the retarder-treated areas are washed off with high-pressure water, exposing the aggregate beneath - while the untreated areas keep their smooth, fair-face finish. The image is formed entirely by the contrast between these two textures, not by paint or applied graphics, which is why it looks like part of the concrete rather than a surface decoration.
Despite its scale, gray tone, and evident solidity, the building sits comfortably within the landscape of West Flanders - the graphic treatment gives the facade a second, more intimate scale to be read at, without competing with the surrounding countryside.
The Result
The finished project exceeded Enjoy Concrete's own expectations. The building now draws attention from passersby and curiosity from visitors - a rare outcome for an industrial headquarters.
Architectural Concrete at Home
Architectural concrete long ago moved beyond industrial buildings. In private homes it appears as facade panels, stairs, and walls and ceilings left exposed. A good result needs quality formwork, the right mix, and experienced crews, because exposed concrete is almost impossible to fix afterward. Factory-made precast elements, like Enjoy Concrete's, give a more even surface and more predictable result than concrete poured on site.
In the Pacific Northwest, exposed concrete walls need continuous insulation to meet the energy code, and in seismic design, concrete's weight and reinforcement have to be engineered carefully. We choose materials that serve the architecture through our material selection service; see also our articles on weathering steel facades and fiber cement.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Graphic Concrete, technically? A patented Finnish technique that prints a surface retarder onto a membrane placed inside a precast concrete mold - once the concrete cures and the retarder-treated areas are washed away, the contrast between smooth and exposed-aggregate concrete forms the image.
Can this technique be used with poured-in-place concrete? No - Graphic Concrete only works with precast elements, since the membrane has to sit inside a mold before the concrete is cast, which isn't possible with in-situ construction.
How does the cantilevered meeting room stay structurally sound? Steel reinforcement embedded in the concrete carries the load of the nearly 12.5-meter overhang, which lets the volume project that far without visible support.
Architecture like this, where the surface itself carries technical and visual intent, is close to how we approach material selection on our own projects, whether that's concrete, tile, or other surface materials chosen for what they can do, not only how they look in a render.
