Una barca da pesca, le traversine in rovere della
ferrovia,le botti sfruttate dal vino, i manici di arnesi,
l’aratro, la chitarra, il legno tenuto per il pugno
dissanguato di resina e unto dal maneggio: di questa
materia seconda va fatto l’altare.
Erri de Luca
“Legno”, L’Ospite incallito
67
EUROPA
2
thE PATCHWORK
Between the massive silhouettes of the
Lex
, the
Charlemagne
and the
Justus Lip-
sius
buildings, and opposite the
Berlaymont
, the
Résidence Palace
stone building,
renovated and turned around, will shine from now on under its wood and glass
adornment: erected between the
Rue de la Loi
buildings, the sections of the new
façade resemble a huge box, which nonetheless allows the precious structure
to shine, through the trellis of its uprights and wooden struts, 140 feet tall, as
brought back from a trip to Brobdingnag [Jonathan Swift,
Travels into Several Re-
mote Nations of the World, in Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and
then a Captain of several Ships
(1726)].
The window frames, used as a pattern and principal material, raise their scale to
massive dimensions, as if forming the curtain of a huge stage house. The patchwork
of some three thousand recycled windows is arranged in accordance with a con-
tinuous design, which emphasises the building’s 11 levels and organises the mosaic
of its panels fixed edge-to-edge. Upon the initial contact with this fabulous façade,
an architecture is perceived that associates two fundamental styles, i.e., that of arti-
sanal language, of craftsmanship [Richard Sennett,
The Craftsman
(2009)] and that
of top-notch construction techniques. The wooden frames and their glass inserts
are lined by a second wall, 2.70 m beyond the façade, made up of a supporting
structure and double glazing used as a shield, in accordance with the European ex-
ecutive’s security requirements. The interval created between the vertical planes of
the double façade facilitates the thermal balance inside the building. It requires the
passage of a cleaning and maintenance cradle, which in turn is also secured.
A fishing boat, oaken railway sleepers barrels used by wine,
tool handles, plough, guitar, wood held in a bloodless
resin fist, oiled by its handling: from this secondary raw
material the altar must be built.
Erri de Luca,
“Legno”/”Wood”, L’ospite incallito
THE patchwork
