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01-270
AUDITORIUM FOR THE UNIVERSITÉ LIBRE
DE BRUXELLES MEDICAL SCHOOL
/ ANDERLECHT (BRUSSELS)
/ 1992
/ 1993
The decision to build the medical school of the
Université Libre de Bruxelles in Anderlecht was not
a random choice. Geographically, it places the school
at the opposite end of the city from the Université
Catholique de Louvain medical school in Woluwe-
Saint-Lambert. In both cases, a 900-bed hospital was
constructed, providing to a set of facilities that includes
classrooms, patient facilities, housing, offices and
parking areas. The relocation of the
ulb
medical school
from its sites in Brussels (in the Solbosch district and
the vicinity of the Saint-Pierre Hospital in the Brussels
‘Pentagon’) is not fully completed. On the other hand,
the Saint-Pierre Hospital – some remaining portions of
which were designed by Jean-Baptiste Dewin – has
completed a renovation and extension programme. The
overall urban planning of the site of the
ulb
Erasme
Hospital is at present generally chaotic. In this particu-
larly difficult context, the cylindrical form of the audito-
rium offers a serene and perfectly balanced appearance
despite the omission of one level – eliminated due to
budget restrictions – which was intended to expand
the building’s lobby. The architect has managed to pro-
vide a relaxation and meeting zone that acts as a kind of
concourse or square, and which stands in stark contrast
to the site’s overall disorganisation. Inside, the
s
-shaped
central aisle means that the speakers will not find
themselves facing a gap in the audience. The facades
take up the theme of ‘a box within a box’. Fitted with
simple glass partitions to create a tempered transitional
zone with the auditorium, they foster a living move-
ment around it, reminiscent of the relationship between
container and contents in the Kursaal d’Ostend (Ostend
Casino) by Leon Stynen from 1949. The very light
framework for these glass facades consists of 80-mm
steel sections, the bracing for which is comparable
to that which had been planned for the Zürich Group
(01-239)
and whose buckling length is thus limited.
The hall is lit with fluorescent tubes whose proximity
to each other is arranged according to the height of
the room, thus ensuring an even light.