Page 52 - Between light and shade

between light and shade, TRANSPARENCy and reflection

the junction of Rue Belliard and Rue de Trèves in
Brussels 43 [01/225, Fig. 42]. An external clear glass
envelope protects the wooden facade on a steel
framework against noise and dust. The 0.90 m
space that separates them, with its maintenance
grating, serves not only as a thermal buffer but
also as a large air duct recovering air from the
offices. The improvement of this transparent
building, in the administrative district of Brus-
sels, with its reflective curtain walls and concrete
or stone panels, surprises… and delights!

Firstly, in the same year, the Free University of
Brussels, under the leadership of Hervé Hasquin,
commissioned me to design the Medical Science
Auditorium at the Erasmus Hospital with its
single glazed envelope surrounding the lobby and
the staircases around its enclosed space [01/270,
Fig. 43], followed by Editions Dupuis for their
Marcinelle headquarters [01/286, Fig. 44] where,
benefiting from a North facing facade 44, the
double skin space, which covers three temperature
controlled atria, reveals all the depth of the struc-
ture and its glazed partitions on a wooden frame.

Next came the Catholic University of Louvain
where Marcel Crochet, the Rector, and Raymond

buffer double skins are also used here as corridors and stair-
wells on the facade (see website).
43 Brussimmo Building on behalf of Arbed-Sidmar.
44 There are only (external) blinds on the East and West end walls,
with the South facade being blind and adjacent to a warehouse.

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