The lack of a definitive master plan for the European Commission has produced a disparate organization, a transient entity within the city. Physical presence is manifest only through real estate purchases and temporary rentals. The European Commission desires to condense the majority of its program onto one unified site, promoting a greater degree of interaction, efficiency, and integrity. Utilizing the Rue de la Loi axis, a definitive axis for the Commission is established. Complicated ownership patterns and a limited budget render planning of a complete campus for the European commission futile. It is difficult to predict when adjacent lots will become available for future expansions. Instead of allowing the expansion to develop in an ad-hoc manner where growth occurs through a series of individual icons whose strength only diminishes in time, we propose to produce a symbol for Europe through a systematic urbanism. Utilizing a rigid module of 25x25x25 meters, we have devised a strategy that combines the tower, which liberates the groundplane, with a horizontal system which is effective in promoting collaboration. Through merging the two systems a new synergy, one that could not exist in either individually, is produced. Unlike a typical master plan which promotes growth through ground-up densification and does not serve the objective of a public entity, we propose a system that allows growth of a void over time.
- Typology
- Public et communautaire
- Status
- Proposition
- Year of conception
- 2008
- Year of delivery
- 2009
- Client
- Région de Bruxelles Capitale
- Total budget
- PPAS €
- Per m² budget
- PPAS
- Constructed area
- 880.000 m2
