After completing its first architectural project for the installation of a cyclotron, Modello Architectes is currently working on a second project in the radiopharmaceutical sector. With the skills it has acquired in this cutting-edge sector, the Carolo-based architecture firm is looking to specialize and export abroad. Portrait.
From a “classic” architectural practice, Modello Architectes has specialized in the hospital and radiopharmaceutical sectors over the last few years. The Carolo architectural firm is taking part in a trade mission organized by AWEX (Wallonia Export & Investment Agency) and dedicated to nuclear medicine in Indianapolis in the United States and Toronto in Canada.
“Before Modello, we had another architectural firm. We had experience in a whole range of fields. In 2013, Gordian joined us. And gradually, we began to specialize in the hospital sector,” says Hubert Clausse, Managing Director of Modello Architectes.
“After working abroad in Lebanon, Morocco, the United States and then North Korea for an NGO, I returned to Belgium in 2006. I worked for several years in the technical department of the Jolimont hospital, then in Bordet, before being hired as technical director at the Arlon and Virton hospitals. I then returned to an architecture office with Hubert. Then I went back to MSF before coming back to work for Modello”, says architect Gordian Roussel.
Construction of a cyclotron building
In 2020, Modello took over another architectural firm that was already working with the radioelements institute on a series of projects. At the same time, a contract was launched for the construction of a building to house a cyclotron. “The cyclotron, which is a particle accelerator, was supplied by IBA. It was a real challenge because we had no expertise whatsoever in nuclear components,” Hubert Clausse recounts.
Motivated by the challenge, Gordian Roussel rediscovered a vocabulary he had come to know in his career in the hospital sector. “This is still the healthcare sector. Here, it's nuclear medicine, but I'm back to a vocabulary I'd already used in the hospital sector. So the language is the same, but it's still very different. I'm learning about the production of radioisotopes, the ones that come out of a nuclear center,” he explains.
To meet this challenge, Gordian Roussel and Hubert Clausse had to overcome many obstacles. “There are challenges in the family of architecture, but also challenges in the family of special techniques, and also challenges in the family of stability. It's rare to have so many in all disciplines,” says Gordian Roussel.
He briefly explains the different challenges. “In stability, the particularity is that we're dealing with very heavy equipment. So we have very substantial floor loads and structural dimensions. What's more, concrete has a role to play in radiation protection. We work with concretes that are different from ordinary ones. What's more, we have to pay close attention to temperature when pouring concrete. Depending on the temperature, concrete can behave differently as nuclear waste. As you can see, these are questions we have to ask ourselves, and they go in all directions,” sums up Gordian Roussel.
Other constraints include the need for smooth walls, but without the use of plaster, which is naturally radioactive. What's more, other products normally used in construction are banned for this type of building.
Today, this first project has come a long way. The building has been delivered and the cyclotron has been installed. “On the face of it, we've succeeded in our mission. So we now have overall experience of the whole process, which is quite long. We started in 2020 and the cyclotron has only just been installed,” adds Hubert Clausse.
Specializing in the radiopharmaceutical sector
But the duo is not stopping at just one project in the field of nuclear medicine. “Following this project, we were contacted by another company who had heard of us. They came with the same project. This time, it was a linear particle accelerator. This second project is under construction, but we can rely on the experience and skills acquired on the first project,” Hubert Clausse explains.
And Modello Architectes has decided to specialize in this field and export its know-how. “With a second project, we feel that we now have a good grasp of all the constraints associated with this type of installation. We've taken to the game. And now we're keen to repeat the experience with other customers. It's a niche sector, so we'll soon have done the rounds in Belgium. That's why we're keen to export our added value and skills abroad,” concludes Hubert Clausse.
