Restructuring of "Residence Palace" Future headquarters of the European Council and the Council of Ministers of the European Union in Brussels (Belgium) [1] Submitted by e.bonin [2] on Tue, 05/09/2006-00:00 The Council of Europe organised a restricted international competition for the restructuring of "Residence Palace". This two-stage competition, following a pre-selection, made on reference files, was open to architects from all European Union member countries. In conformity with the UNESCO/UIA regulations, this competition was approved by the International Union of Architects (UIA). objectives and programme The subject of the competition was the restructuring, extension, renovation and restoration of block A of the "Residence Palace" housing complex in Brussels (Belgium), of a total surface area of 40 000 m2 currently occupied by offices. Half the building was constructed between 1922 and 1927, by the architect Michel Polak for the financier Lucien Raisin who sought to develop a prestigious collective housing programme. The other part of the building was added in the sixties. Of unquestionable heritage value, certain parts are of the edifice are listed historic monuments. The restructured complex will house both the Headquarters of the European Council and the Council of Ministers of the European Union. The programme includes meeting rooms, Presidential offices, offices for Member States' delegations and the directors of the Council's General Secretariat, reception rooms, offices for civil servants and other related facilities. Subject to the agreement of the Delegations of the Member States concerning the results of the competition, the Council of the European Union will entrust the Régie des Bâtiments de l'etat belge (Belgian state-owned construction company) with the role of overall client for the entire restructuring.
jury At the end of the first stage, seven projects were selected by the jury to take part in the second stage, the adjudication of which took place in Brussels from 31 August to 2 September 2005. Placed under the presidency of Anastassios Vikas, (Greece), General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union, the jury was composed as follows: Konstantinos Maretheftis (Cyprus), architect; Zoltan J. Varga (Hungary), architect; Yves Goergen (Luxemburg), architect; Mels Crouwel (Netherlands), architect; Jacek Lenart (Poland), architect; Pekka Pelkonen (Finland), engineer? town planner; Hans Evenepoel (Belgium), engineer? architect; Bert de Smedt-Jans (Belgium), engineer ; Pablo Lhoas (Belgium), architect; Guido Stegen (Belgium) architect; Benoît Moritz (Belgium),architecttown planner and nine deputy members. Wilhelm Kuecker (Germany), architect, sat as observer on behalf of the International Union of Architects. Johan Burgers (Netherlands, engineer, competition's Professional and Technical Advisor, assisted the jury as representative of the promoter and to present the Technical Committee's report to the jury. Prior to commencing deliberations, the jury unanimously decided to exclude one of the entries for breach of a number of clauses of the competition regulations and non-respect of the programme. prize winners first prize-winner: Samyn & Partners (Belgium), Studio Valle Progettazioni (Italy), Buro Happold (United Kingdom)
From the rue de la Loi the building will appear as a big cube with, on the façade, a patchwork in wood and crystalline glass. Through this façade, in the vast volume of the cube will be visible a sort of giant amphora in which are situated the conference halls. In sanded glass and lit up at night, it evokes a lantern placed within a box. The jury appreciated the successful combination of the glass façade with the historical part of Residence Palace, the good integration in the urban environment as well as the very clear concept for the different functions of the building and the interior symbolic expression visible from outside through the transparent façade. second prize-winner: CDG, Van Acker & Partners, SWK, Grontmij (Belgium) third prize-winner: Groep Planning, Ingenium, VK Engineering, Daidalos (Belgium)? fourth place: Mas & Roux, Arene & Edeikins, Bolze & Rodriguez-Pages, Technip (France)? fifth place: Heinle, Wischer & Partner (Germany), Origin (Belgium), Schlaich Bergermann & Partner (Germany)? sixth place:
Altiplan (Belgium), Estudio Lamela (Spain), Sicabel (Belgium) VK Engineering (Belgium). public exhibition A public exhibition of all the projects presented for the first and second phases of the competition will be held in Brussels, in the Residence Palace building, 155 rue de la Loi, until 14 November 2005. information Conseil de l?union européenne? Secrétariat général Information to the public-documents-search-document-12078/05 Language English Country: Belgique [3] Lieu: Bruxelles Etat: publié [4] Honoraires UIA: 11128 Honoraires payés: Oui number of participants: 25 links: http://ue.eu.int [5] Deadline for receipt of projects: Friday, 11 February, 2005 Registration deadline: Friday, 15 October, 2004 Q&A Publication: Friday, 14 January, 2005 Deadline for Q&A: Friday, 31 December, 2004
Submission Deadline: Wednesday, 2 February, 2005 Results Announcement: Friday, 1 July, 2005 Date d'exposition: Tuesday, 5 July, 2005 Launching: Sunday, 8 August, 2004 Nature: concours sujet: restricted international competition for the restructuring of "Residence Palace" Theme: Réhabilitation [6] Promoteur: Council of the European Union jury_text: Anastassios Vikas (Greece), representing the Secretariat of the General Council of the European Union, President K. Maretheftis, Cyprus, arch Z. Varga, Hungary, arch Y. Goergen, Luxembourg, arch M. Crouwel, The Netherlands, arch J. Lenart (Poland), arch P. Pekkonen, Finland, ing-urb H. Evenepoel, Belgium, ing arch B. de Smedt-Jans, Belgium, ing P. Lhoas, Belgium, arch G. Stegen, Belgium, arch G. Mortiz, Belgium, arch urb Thomas Herzog, Germany - cancelled. Wilhelm Kuëcker, Germany, took his place as UIA Rep. Helene Roseta, Portugal - cancelled.