Parlement Francophone Bruxellois

Parlement Francophone Bruxellois
© Georges De Kinder

Parlement Francophone Bruxellois 

SKOPE

ARCHITECTS
Skope

ETUDE ENERGETIQUE
3e

VORONOÏDS
Paradie Architecture

CONSTRUCTION
Entreprise Jacques Delens

TECHNIQUES SPECIALES
Grontmij

STRUCTURE
Pirnay

INTERIOR
Bham Studio

COLLABORATORS
Cooparch-r.u.

ENERGY STUDIES 
3e

AREA
1532 M²

YEAR
2013

LOCATION
Brussels, Belgium

CATEGORY
Institutional Buildings

Text description provided by architect.

The new program includes: the seat of Brussels Parliament (PFB : French speaking part) and the restoration of the former Postal Relay (Renaissance 1694) as a polyvalent space.

Parlement Francophone Bruxellois
© Georges De Kinder
Parlement Francophone Bruxellois
© Georges De Kinder

It would have been risky to chose the easy way by the creation of a mimetic building right wing of The Parliament or propose a dissonant solution with a draft bill only contemporary.

Skope’s approach was different; inspired by the history of the place while assuming contemporary issues. The building is not a simple drawing of facades but a concept overall.

Parlement Francophone Bruxellois
© Georges De Kinder
Parlement Francophone Bruxellois
© Georges De Kinder

The architect Georges Hano, author of the facades and redevelopment inside the Provincial Palace in 1908 (the building nextdoor), was descended from the "Fine arts" architectural current.

Architects of SKOPE highlighted this architecture and have been inspired for the design of the extension:

On the one hand, maintaining the volume of the new template in the extension originally designed by the architect Hano, who thought from the beginning to the creation a Provincial Palace with two wings.

Parlement Francophone Bruxellois
© Georges De Kinder
Parlement Francophone Bruxellois
© Georges De Kinder
Parlement Francophone Bruxellois
© Georges De Kinder

Secondly, they shelled the design intent of the architect Hano reinterpreted and by calculating the proportion of the facades.

Ensued creating a simple volume where is applied a facade whose expression is materialized by “voronoïdes” pattern, a mathematical formula close to the fractal distribution and which, on the basis of 5 distinct elements combine infinite variations.

That’s how history and modernity are synthesized on a site included in the classification site of UNESCO.

Parlement Francophone Bruxellois
© Georges De Kinder
Parlement Francophone Bruxellois
© Georges De Kinder

Beyond the architectural concept, it was important for the project to be sober, functional and of course energy efficient.

The Brussels Parliament had to be a model of an ambitious public building being an architectural showcase but also an eco-friendly building attending the passive standard.


Parlement Francophone Bruxellois
South & East Elevation
Parlement Francophone Bruxellois
Section


Parlement Francophone Bruxellois
Floor Plan
Parlement Francophone Bruxellois
Floor Plan
Parlement Francophone Bruxellois
Floor Plan
Parlement Francophone Bruxellois
Floor Plan
Parlement Francophone Bruxellois
Floor Plan
Parlement Francophone Bruxellois
Detail