The Rogier Tower (french: Tour Rogier, nl, Rogiertoren) is a

skyscraper A skyscraper is a tall continuously habitable building having multiple floors. Modern sources currently define skyscrapers as being at least or in height, though there is no universally accepted definition. Skyscrapers are very tall high-ris ...

located in the Northern Quarter

central business district A central business district (CBD) is the commercial and business centre of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides with the "city ...

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

. It owes its name to the Place Charles Rogier/Karel Rogierplein on which it is situated. It was formerly known as the Dexia Tower after

Dexia Dexia N.V./S.A., or the Dexia Group, is a Franco-Belgian financial institution formed in 1996. At its peak in 2010, it had about 35,200 members of staff and a core shareholders' equity of €19.2 billion. In 2008, the bank entered severe ...

bank, but that bank fell victim to the

2007–2012 global financial crisis 7 (seven) is the natural number following 6 and preceding 8. It is the only prime number preceding a cube. As an early prime number in the series of positive integers, the number seven has greatly symbolic associations in religion, mythology, ...

and the tower's name was changed on 1 March 2012. As Dexia moved its offices in Brussels to the Bastion Tower in

Ixelles ( French, ) or (Dutch, ), is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located to the south-east of Brussels' city centre, it is geographically bisected by the City of Brussels. It is also bordered by the muni ...

Belfius Belfius Bank and Insurance, known as Dexia Bank Belgium up until 1 March 2012, is a for-profit PLC founded to meet local authority needs. Belfius emerged from the dismantling of the Dexia group, of which it was part until 10 October 2011, when it ...

and its subsidiaries are the only occupants of this tower, often also called the Belfius Tower. It is the fourth tallest building in Belgium. The Rogier Tower is built on the site of the Rogier International Centre (french: Centre International Rogier, link=no, nl, Internationaal Rogiercentrum, link=no), also called the Martini Tower, which was formerly the tallest building in Belgium, but was demolished in 2001. Constructed between 2002 and 2006, the Rogier Tower is tall. It was originally planned to be tall, but the proposal was rejected because the height was thought to be excessive. The Rogier Tower is also one of the few towers in Brussels whose roof is not horizontal, instead being made up of three inclined sections. It is also one of the only towers in the world to have a fully glass roof.

Lighting

The building has 6,000 windows, and 4,200 of these are equipped with an average of 12 light bulbs, each having a red, green and blue

LED A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor Electronics, device that Light#Light sources, emits light when Electric current, current flows through it. Electrons in the semiconductor recombine with electron holes, releasing energy i ...

, allowing a broad palette of colours to be formed. These are lit up to form colourful displays, with each window acting as a

pixel In digital imaging, a pixel (abbreviated px), pel, or picture element is the smallest addressable element in a raster image, or the smallest point in an all points addressable display device. In most digital display devices, pixels are the smal ...

. To minimise power consumption, the LEDs only illuminate the outside of the closed blinds, and the reflection off the blinds illuminates the window. Initially, the displays were just abstract patterns or the

temperature Temperature is a physical quantity that expresses quantitatively the perceptions of hotness and coldness. Temperature is measured with a thermometer. Thermometers are calibrated in various temperature scales that historically have relied o ...

, but on special occasions and major holidays, customised displays were shown. Following the

late-2000s recession The Great Recession was a period of marked general decline, i.e. a recession, observed in national economies globally that occurred from late 2007 into 2009. The scale and timing of the recession varied from country to country (see map). At t ...

, the lighting was greatly reduced, and the displays were on for only 10 minutes an hour. As from 2015, Belfius reactivated the lighting, especially for special occasions such as the Belgian Pride, the

Special Olympics Special Olympics is the world's largest sports organization for children and adults with intellectual disabilities and physical disabilities, providing year-round training and activities to 5 million participants and Unified Sports partners in 1 ...

, the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

, Rode Neuzen Dag (Red Nose Day), Viva for Life or the

Belgian National Day Belgian National Day ( nl, Nationale feestdag van België; french: Fête nationale belge; german: Belgischer Nationalfeiertag) is the national holiday of Belgium commemorated annually on 21 July. It is one of the country's ten public holidays a ...

on 21 July. Belfius was involved in several of these occasions as sponsor or as co-organiser.

References

External links

{{Tallest buildings and structures in Belgium Buildings and structures in Brussels Skyscraper office buildings in Belgium Saint-Josse-ten-Noode Office buildings completed in 2006

Lighting

See also

References

External links