Buildings
New Meeting Space Being Built for EU Headquarters
(archrecord.construction.com - 03/02/2006)
By Sarah
Cox
A design has been selected for a new
meeting space for the European Union in Brussels. The building
will supplement the adjacent 1927 Palace Complex, designed
by architect Michel Polak, which now serves as EU Council
headquarters. The winning competition entry was submitted
by architecture firm Samyn and Partners of Brussels, and engineering
firms Studio Valle Progettazioni of Rome, and UK-based Buro
Happold. The 645,000-square-foot building will include a press
briefing room, a conference room for 250 people, 28 translation
booths, and a dining room for 50 guests. Samyn and Partners
principal Phillippe Samyn describes the box-like building
as a "lantern," due to its glowing, glass-box appearance,
created by façade layers of both translucent and transparent
glass. The programmatic area will occupy a bulbous, multi-storied
cylinder in the center of the box, and a dynamic lighting
scheme will change the color of the glowing lantern at night.
The structure will be steel-and-concrete composite construction.
Sunlight will enter the private main meeting hall through
skylights in the center of its ceiling. This hall will be
enclosed by a double-skinned facade, of which the outer skin
will include a number of oak-frame windows, which will come
from the 25 countries in the union. This will gesture toward
the "incredible cultural patchwork" of Europe, says
Samyn, and will allow the architect to champion environmental
protection to the influential council members. The windows
will also provide an acoustical barrier from street noise,
and another layer of thermal insulation.
The Belgian State is paying about $240 million for the project,
which is scheduled for completion in June of 2013.
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