Page 63 - ELEMENTS EUROPA (EN)

ELEMENTS EUROPA 59

2 THE BAROQUE ELLIPSE
AND ITS TWISTS AND TURNS

Axonometric diagram of At the heart of the building lies a sort of lay naos, sheltered from outside
the lantern’s geometry. glances: conference rooms are located in the lantern like a hollow stone.
All structural horizontal or vertical elements are linked to the periphery of
the system and the centre is obstacle-free. Leaders gather together in
circles on the main floor sets, inside great elliptical curves reproducing the
shape of the lantern’s superimposed sets. Round assemblies, interpretation
booths are located on two levels. These booths are accessed via external
passageways, which are lit in a second stage by the glass making up the
envelope of the element. This points out how important those fifty or so
metre-long circling corridors are.

The main part of the functional programme of the lantern has been
positioned vertically: three big storey rooms range from the bottom to the
top (respectively levels 3-4; 5-6 and 7-8). Moreover, there are a pressroom
(levels 1 and 2), a restaurant in the basement, a cafeteria on the ground
floor and two large dining and reception halls, in the upper floors (9-10
and 11). Twinned levels present significant ceiling heights, thus allowing
for the double crown of interpretation booths round the rooms. Access to
conference rooms is gained through the passageways positioned round
stairwells and lifts, on wooden floors built at the back of the two preserved
wings of the Residence Palace. On the north-western side, the Council
secretariat offices are spread along those very rows and national delegation
services on the south-western side. Lit from the atrium, further meeting
rooms have been arranged in the upper floors on the north-western side.

Inside the lantern, the three main-room ceilings stand out due to the
metallic substructure keeping the necessary tension for wooden floor
slimming and vibration reduction. The great steel bins set up round a drum
look like a reversed cupola, leaning its convex curve towards the centre
of the composition. Even though straight and rigid, their white and square