RUE DE LA LOI, BELGIUM, BRUSSELS, 2009

Competition to define an urban form for the Rue de la Loi and its surroundings

Two sets of contradictory demands define this competition:

1. To improve the urban qualities of the already congested Rue de la Loi by doubling its density
2. To create a new European quarter on a site which is already occupied by a traditional example of the European city

The first issue is morphological, the second symbolic. To address the morphology, we introduce in Brussels the ancient European typology of the 'portico', the classical emblem of the 'public'. It forms a screen of shifted footprints that introduces in the claustrophobic street wall of the Rue de la Loi a lateral depth of openings that defines a linear political space, if not an agora. The portico is 'capped' with federating elements parallel to the Rue de la Loi that defines a 'European' axis.
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FACT SHEET

Status:
Competition

Client:
Capital-Region of Brussels

Location:
Brussels, Belgium

Program:
European and international competition to define an urban form for the Rue de la Loi and its surroundings

COLLABORATORS

In collaboration with:
NFA – Nicolas Firket Architects

team:
Nicolas Firket, Bernard Dubois, Marie-Noëlle Meessen
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CREDITS

Partners-in-Charge:
Rem Koolhaas and Reinier de Graaf

Associate:
Clément Blanchet

Team:
Catherine Barsoum, Andrea Bertassi, Willem Boning, Ania Brault, Sandra Bsat, Jessica Chidester, Rob Daurio, Antoine Decourt, Shabnam Hosseini, Namjoo Kim, So Jung Lee, Ivan Mata, Sanny Ng, Se Yoon Park, Ippolito Pestellini, Daniel Postiguo, Mian Ye, Yun Zhang, Marcos Zotes Lopez, Pascual Bernard de Castro, Abigail Karcher, Matthew Jull