I am not sure what I should think about it but it seems worth to be mentioned here, as it also was already featured in the Belgium subforum.

"World-famous French architect Christian de Portzamparc is the man in charge of turning these ambitions into reality." (Spiegel)

Portzamparc won with his project for the Rui de la Loi the central avenue alon which already today most buildings are used as offices for the EU commission or organisations that work on an EU level.

The area seems to be terrible. A four lane road with heavy traffic, constant construction works and no real places to go other than to work.

The plan should change that, reintroduce a major share of residentials and commerce in this area while at the same time increasing office space. At the same time the traffic should be reduced, the street is supposed to become friendlier for pedestrians and bicyclers.

this all should be achieved with the creation of a number of high rises along the road.

This is still in the project phase, but works should begin already in a few years. The time frame is however one reaching at least to 2025 or so.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,615892,00.html


http://www.spiegel.de/img/0,1020,1472575,00.jpg

http://www.spiegel.de/img/0,1020,1472574,00.jpg

The light rail that can be seen here is far from certain actually the chances for it are rather low. I think however that there will be a metro line with a similar route in operation not too far away.

Really nice stuff, Europe would get a political district that matches its influence.

I especially like the fact that they would like to use the Cinquantenaire for the European Council. That would really give some cachet to it :)

Built with taxpayers money...

Built with taxpayers money...

Actually it will be most likely built with private investors money, but certainly it will be bought or leased or whatever with taxpayers money.... like any other governmental building in the entire world. Uhhh what a scandal.

It would be a scandal if it would be extremely wasteful architecture but as far as one can see from the renderings apart from being highrises (which serves rather the purpose of densification than just building high for the sake of it like in Dubai) it does not look overly wasteful, does it?

And its not like the EU would be the only public entity in the world which needs new office space in the long term (over the next 15 years).

It seems that these plans do not really effect the corner of the European Parliament though. Even though I have heard plans to turn the place du Luxembourg into a pedestrian square. I am not sure in how far this is true.

But then, the European Parliament together with that square seems for me to be the only place which could qualify for the descriptions "representative" and also being a place where people stay voluntarily.

http://www.momondo.com/photos/miscellaneous/images/6805/original.aspx

This place seems also to be a nice location for political rallies. With major public buildings one should also keep things like these in mind.

Wow what a cool skyscraper-district for Brussels, much better than the Northern district;D

http://i496.photobucket.com/albums/rr328/Bazar_01/090305_ontwerp.jpg

http://i496.photobucket.com/albums/rr328/Bazar_01/projetgagnant3.jpg

http://www.spiegel.de/img/0,1020,1472574,00.jpg

The light rail that can be seen here is far from certain actually the chances for it are rather low. I think however that there will be a metro line with a similar route in operation not too far away.

Indeed there already is a metro tunnel in use underneath that street. It is served by lines 1 & 5, connecting the eastern quarters with Brussels' downtown. The tram was probably put in the image just to illustrate the ambition to reduce car traffic in the area, because now the Wetstraat/Rue de la Loi is pretty much an urban motorway, just like its counterpart Rue Belliardstraat a couple of blocks to the south :dunno:

When will this get finished?

Yes, every body knows

both secure and bad but are a snowfall fuse to nonentity, and I heard myself said calmly, "In this municipality, if the regular pains of poorness to encounter a individual, which.

Interesting I LOVE LOVE LOVE BRUSSELS~

The new building for the European Council is already under construction:

http://www.polygon3d.be/data/projecten/obb%20residence/obb06.jpg

http://www.polygon3d.be/data/projecten/obb%20residence/obb07.jpg

http://www.polygon3d.be/data/projecten/obb%20residence/obb01.jpg

http://www.polygon3d.be/data/projecten/obb%20residence/obb02.jpg

http://www.polygon3d.be/data/projecten/obb%20residence/obb03.jpg

http://www.polygon3d.be/data/projecten/obb%20residence/obb04.jpg

What's that on the roof? Solar panels maybe or just some exterior detail?

That building will be very unique indeed. Not in a nice looking but a funny way. Still it could be far worse, if it were just one more regular glass cube more.

Any progress pics?

I guess the crisis hit Brussels hard, K.O.

Oh, actually there is happening a lot in the EU quarter, not so much related to EU institutions however. The "Residence Palace" is still being transformed into the new seat for the European Council. Otherwise, you have a big project on upgrading the public transportation hub at the Schuhman roundabout, and bigger hotel project at the Rue de la Loi. Where a lot of construction activity is going on is however next to that road between Council building and European Parliament. This former no-man's-land is seeing loads of mixed use / residential projects. Given how much of an office ghetto the EU district is, that is great news for the area.

Here is a good summary of all projects:



http://img811.imageshack.us/img811/8052/overzichtschuman.jpg


http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=1383720&page=3

^^ These are the Lighthouses, construction began some months ago:

http://img64.imageshack.us/img64/1889/vanmaerlant4.png

http://img100.imageshack.us/img100/4930/naamloomaerlant2.png

http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/6458/dsc04999n.jpg
(pics by Filou)

The white tower in the background is the Crown Plaza Hotel at Wetstraat/Rue de la Loi, which wil be demolished and replaced by a new project.
The old art deco building is the Residence Palace, which is now being transformed to the new seat of the European Council (the egg).

Oh, actually there is happening a lot in the EU quarter, not so much related to EU institutions however. The "Residence Palace" is still being transformed into the new seat for the European Council.

Why does EC need a new seat? Where is the current one?

Why does EC need a new seat? Where is the current one?

Let's make an important distinction first. The "Council of the European Union" is where the national ministers meet and this institution has important legislative power, in most areas shared with the European Parliament. Then there is also the "European Council", this is where the head of states and prime ministers of the member states convene. Before the Lisbon treaty this was not even a proper institution and not so many years ago it was not even based in Brussels but consisted of summits that usually took place in the country holding the Council presidency (of the Council of the European Union, as the other Council did not have a presidency on its own as it wasn't even a proper institution). One can debate the merit, but Lisbon changed that. The European Council still has few hard powers but is now an official institution and the travelling circus was replaced by a fixed place in the heart of the EU quarter in Brussels. So far the European Council uses the same complex as the Council of the European Union. The Residence Palace is already today part of the complex but its where the European Council will get its own facilities.

It is noteworthy that in post Lisbon times and also because of the current crises the intensity of meetings etc of the European Council considerably increased. Moreover there is now a European Council President with his office.

Last but not least, the European Council is rather executive in nature while the Council of the European Union is mostly legislative. Also from that point of view, a clearer separation of both is welcome.

Thank you for the explanation. I understand it totally now!

When are we gonna see some movement on this project?

Apparently they've been busy so far to prepare the old building structure as well as creating the foundations for the new part. It certainly does not help that below the building the new Schuman station is under construction as well. They last picture I saw indicated however that they are pretty much done with the foundations now. So the visible new part should be started in a not too distant time.