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PROJECT TO RENOVATE
THE AU BON MARCHÉ
DEPARTMENT STORE
/ BRUSSELS
/ 1986–1987
Rejected by the Royal Commission for Monuments and
Sites, this project – which maintained and respected
some of the existing structures – was a modest attempt
to renew the language of department stores, which
were, from the late nineteenth century onwards, one
of the symbols of prosperity for Brussels and other
European capitals. Horta won renown for his stores in
both Brussels and Frankfurt, while Paris, Vienna and
London outdid each other in splendour. At the cross-
roads of rue Neuve, boulevard du Jardin Botanique and
boulevard Anspach, the Au Bon Marché and Innovation
department stores, the City 2 shopping complex and
the
fnac
between them offer a wide variety of goods
for sale. The present project is designed around a cen-
tral covered space, enlivened by a fountain, and semi-
cylindrical facades that modulate natural light towards
the administrative offices. The innovative dome in a
single steel layer is very similar to later research carried
out by the engineer Jörg Schlaich (author, among other
structures, of the Olympic Stadium in Munich). For
Philippe Samyn, the ensemble of the atrium is reminis-
cent of Indian architecture. A wall of greenery hides
the car park. The project that was ultimately built, by
a different team of architects, more or less copied the
outline and modulation of the original buildings.