A: Das reale Europa? Was meinen Sie damit? Ich weiß
beim besten Willen nicht, was das heißen soll.
(…)
B: Wenigstens auf eine unbestreitbare Wahrheit
können wir uns vielleicht einigen.
A: Lassen Sie hören.
B: Zwar liegt Brüssel in Europa, aber Europa liegt nicht
in Brüssel.
A: Wem sagen Sie das? Nächste Woche fahre ich
endlich wieder nach Hause, in das Nest, wo ich
aufgewachsen bin. Dort finde ich das reale Europa,
auf das Sie sich berufen. Die Leute dort sind allesamt
Dickköpfe.
B: Und Sie?
A: Ich bin genau wie die andern. Wie fanden Sie
den Ossobuco?
B: Danke, Monsieur. Er war vortrefflich.
Hanz Magnus Enzensberger
Sanftes Monster Brüssel oder Die Entmündigung Europas
93
EUROPA
3
THE CONCOURSE IN BETWEEN
The preservation of the listed sections of the
Résidence Palace
and the addition
of a structure embedded in the initial composition, could expose the Europa
project to the risk of a clash of architectures. Unperturbed, the blending of new
and old finds a solution that returns the project to
Rue de la Loi
and turns the Art
Deco building into a backdrop which the new building backs onto. The corner
created by the building (Block A of the
Résidence Palace
) had been increased
by the two office wings that came to flank it in the 1960s, but it survived. On the
ground a lawn covered the majority of the remaining quadrangle, the tentative
transformation of what was originally only a backyard. The sections that have
been torn down freed up a large space.
The solution chosen by Philippe Samyn is first and foremost that of a space clos-
ing off this corner of the former building of Block A, creating a cube elevated
above the square plan virtually included in the layout of the original building.
The neatness of this cube, in the middle of the former
Quartier Léopold
knocked
about by the enormity of its clashing buildings, deserves the confirmation of a
civil order and central institutional role, despite the respect for alignment and
A: The real Europe? What do you mean by that? With the best
will in the world, I don’t see what it could mean.
(…)
B: There is at least one indisputable truth on which we can
perhaps agree.
A:I’m listening.
B: Brussels is certainly in Europe, but Europe is not in Brussels.
A: Tell me about it! Next week, I will at last go home, to the
dump where I grew up. That is where I will find the real Europe
you refer to. The people there are all bull-headed.
B: And what about you?
A: I am exactly like the others. How did you like the osso buco?
B: Thank you, Sir, it was excellent.
Hanz Magnus Enzensberger,
The sweet monster of Brussels or Europe under guardianship
THE CONCOURSE IN BETWEEN
