187
EUROPA
Sustainable construction: Valideo
The development of a real estate structure
for the European Union’s highest authorities
could not take place in the beginning of
the 21st century without special attention
being paid to sustainable construction. The
preliminary designs were drawn while SECO
and the CSTC were setting up a partner-
ship to provide Belgium with a system of
reference in sustainable construction for
buildings. It was obvious that both efforts
had to come together.
The system of reference christened Valideo
and the building project therefore have
nourished each other in a fruitful col-
laboration. The final goal was to guarantee
with objectivity the implementation in the
building of sustainable solutions chosen by
the project’s designers. The challenge of the
simultaneous development and the spirit
of collaboration between the teams has
allowed for the mutual enrichment of both
approaches. SECO engineers were able to
contribute, thanks to their experience in the
field, to innovative or bold technical solu-
tions, which have studded the entire design
process and the completion of the building.
The desire to guarantee a top-notch build-
ing requires true in-depth work, during both
development and execution. Cosmetic solu-
tions are not sufficient, it is at the very core
of the object that sustainable components
have to be searched. Only the skilful use
of a holistic system of reference such as
Valideo has allowed for the evaluation of
the project’s environmental aspect.
Text drawn up by
SECO
and coordinated
by Mr
Pierre Spehl
, engineer
While it is true that “Brussels is in Europe, but Europe is not in Brussels” (Hanz
Magnus Enzensberger), this Europe that works hard to be acknowledged by its
own citizens will nonetheless gain in credibility and visibility as soon as its own
political culture will win fame. Whilst Europe is far from typological traditions
that marked its civil architecture, it must invent the framework of its represen-
tation and create less of a bland image of itself, less strictly functional, more
resolute than its monetary effigies, its flag or its technocratic mumbo-jumbo.
The originality of Europa, its very ambiguities, are the sign of a form and po-
litical culture in search of an identity – reflected by the building’s architecture:
relying on a renovated heritage; pivoting on itself to face its neighbours; giving
rise to the game of interpretation and dialogue of urban shapes by means of the
contours and profiles of its new façades; accommodating an open space barely
less visible but sure of its symbolic efficiency; in full view, even radiating, whilst
being protected.
The composition of the architectural structure and the steps in its construction
speak volumes about the riches of the project: restoration and modernisation
of the old sections of the
Résidence Palace
building, homage paid to the past
prestige of a complex of buildings designed with the carefree illusions of the
Interbellum; new development, dilated like a hot air balloon, moored along the
aptly named
Rue de la Loi
, and caged in behind the two sides of a glass that is
sufficiently heroic to assume the roles of wall and window by itself, of structure
and cladding, of building and ornament.
JEAN ATTALI
, November 2013
WORK IN PROGRESS
