Transformation of the National Bank of Belgium, Brussels

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Project: Transformation of the National Bank of Belgium
Tutors: Sam De Vocht, Matthijs Klooster, Sereh Mandias, Daniel Rosbottom, Mark Pimlott, Susanne Pietsch - TU Delft
Date: 2021-2022
Location: Brussels, Belgium

The national bank of Belgium stands as a unified building block; a conglomerate of centuries of patchwork structures, infills and renovations. Constructed along its building boundary, the facade can be read as a series of chapters. Starting with the original Hotel van de Gouverneur (Beyaert, 1860-1974), the monumental bank building, (Van Goethem, 1948-1954) the 60’s addition of le Pomme, and finally the hidden vertical expansion of J. Victoir.

Rather than demolition and removal of residual structures, the idea of the new construction adds a further layer to make a new whole. The careful clearance of the inner courtyard allows for an addition that reconfigures the relationship of the existing building blocks. A building that pushes itself against the existing. An architecture in which its programme does not dominate architectural space but rather acts as an extension to pre-existing conditions.

The new addition reveals itself as fragments within the existing chapters of the monumental facade, opening the building up to the public and softening the idle edge of the public periphery.

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