The Europa building is the seat of the

European Council The European Council (informally EUCO) is a collegiate body (directorial system) and a symbolic collective head of state, that defines the overall political direction and general priorities of the European Union (EU). It is composed of the he ...

and

Council of the European Union The Council of the European Union, often referred to in the treaties and other official documents simply as the Council, and less formally known as the Council of Ministers, is the third of the seven institutions of the European Union (EU) a ...

, located on the Rue de la Loi/Wetstraat in the European Quarter of

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

, Belgium. Its defining feature is the multi-storey "lantern-shaped" construct holding the main meeting rooms; a representation of which has been adopted by both the European Council and Council of the EU as their official emblems. The Europa building is situated on the former site of the partially demolished and renovated Bloc A of the Résidence Palace, a complex of luxurious apartment blocks. Its exterior combines the listed

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French (), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that first Art Deco in Paris, appeared in Paris in the 1910s just before World War I and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920 ...

façade of the original 1920s building with the

contemporary Contemporary history, in English-language historiography, is a subset of modern history that describes the historical period from about 1945 to the present. In the social sciences, contemporary history is also continuous with, and related t ...

design of the architect Philippe Samyn. The building is linked via two

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s and a service tunnel to the adjacent Justus Lipsius building, which provides for additional office space, meeting rooms and press facilities.

History

Construction and former usage: the Résidence Palace

Following the end of the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, the Walloon businessman Lucien Kaisin, in collaboration with the Swiss-Belgian architect Michel Polak, put forward plans for a complex of luxurious apartment blocks for the

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and

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, the Résidence Palace, to be situated on the edge of Brussels'

Leopold Quarter The Leopold Quarter (; Dutch language, Dutch: ) is a Quarter (country subdivision), quarter of Brussels, Belgium. The term is sometimes confused with the Brussels and the European Union#European Quarter, European Quarter, as the area has come t ...

. Consisting of five "Blocs" (A–E), it was to be "a small town within a city" able to provide its residents with onsite facilities, including a theatre hall, a swimming pool, as well as other commercial services such as a restaurants and hairdressers. The Résidence Palace aimed to address the dual shortage of suitable property and domestic workers for the upper classes following the

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brought about during the war. The foundation stone of the

building was laid on 30 May 1923 with the first residents moving in 1927. The development, however, only had a short commercial success. In 1940, tenants were forced to leave, as the building was requisitioned as the headquarters of the occupying

German army The German Army (, 'army') is the land component of the armed forces of Federal Republic of Germany, Germany. The present-day German Army was founded in 1955 as part of the newly formed West German together with the German Navy, ''Marine'' (G ...

during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. In September 1944, after the liberation of Brussels, the building was taken over as headquarters for the

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(SHAEF) and the

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. After the war, in 1947, the

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bought the complex and used Bloc A (the north-eastern L-shaped building) for administrative offices.NEW HEADQUARTERS OF THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION
, Samyn and Partners At the end of the 1960s, as part of work to modernise the area during the construction of an underground railway line beneath the Rue de la Loi/Wetstraat, a new

aluminium Aluminium (or aluminum in North American English) is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Al and atomic number 13. It has a density lower than that of other common metals, about one-third that of steel. Aluminium has ...

façade was built, closing the L-shape, under the supervision of Michel Polak's sons. File:Résidence Palace seen from Chaussée d'Etterbeek.jpg, Résidence Palace (Polak and Peeters, 1922–1927) File:Bruxelles - Résidence Palace (22931754523).jpg, Stairway of the Résidence Palace File:Residence Palace Bruxelles fountain.jpg, Résidence Palace's fountain

Development of the European Quarter

With the development of the European Quarter in Brussels, city planners struggled to find suitable office space to house the growing staff and needs of the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

(EU)'s institutions situated in close proximity to the Résidence Palace. In 1988, the eastern part of the Résidence Palace (Blocs D and E) was demolished to make way for the construction of the Justus Lipsius building as the seat of the

. In 2002, the

, the organisation gathering the EU's

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together, also began using the Justus Lipsius building as their Brussels venue. This followed an advanced implementation of a decision by European leaders during ratification of the Nice Treaty to do so at such a time as the total membership of the EU surpassed 18 member states. Prior to this, the venue for European Council summits was in the member state that held the rotating

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. The resulting growing international media presence in the area led the Belgian Government to develop Blocs C and B as the site of its new International Press Centre. A swimming pool and theatre were also maintained. However, in 2004, leaders decided the logistical problems created by the outdated facilities warranted the construction of a new purpose-built seat able to cope with the nearly 6,000 meetings, working groups, and summits per year. This being despite a number of renovations to the Justus Lipsius building, including the conversion of an underground car park into additional meeting rooms. The Belgian Government proposed as a solution the conversion of Bloc A of the Résidence Palace into a new permanent seat for both EU institutions. Under the deal, the site would be transferred from the Belgian Government to the Council's Secretariat for the symbolic price of €1, with the Council assuming the costs for the subsequent construction project.Pop, Valentina (14 September 2009
Top EU institution to move into eco-friendly building
EU Observer

Transformation of Bloc A into the Europa building

A pan-European competition was opened to redesign Bloc A of the Résidence Palace to suit the needs of the institutions. As the original Art Deco façades of the Résidence Palace building were listed as historic monuments, competition rules stated that these had to be retained. In 2005, it was announced that a team involving the architect Philippe Samyn and Partners (architects and engineers), lead and design partner, in collaboration with Studio Valle Progettazioni (architects), and

Buro Happold Buro Happold Limited (previously ''BuroHappold Engineering'') is a British professional services firm that provides engineering consultancy, design, planning, project management, and consulting services for buildings, infrastructure, and the env ...

(engineers) had succeeded in submitting the winning design. The design for what was to be later named the Europa building, involved the demolition of the 1960s extension, and the construction of a large glass-cubed atrium connecting the two renovated wings of the original 1920s L-shaped building. Within the atrium was to be constructed a "lantern-shaped" structure housing the main meeting rooms where the EU's delegations to the European Council and Council of the EU would meet. Due to EU leaders desire for the building to be

eco-friendly Environment friendly processes, or environmental-friendly processes (also referred to as eco-friendly, nature-friendly, and green), are sustainability and marketing terms referring to goods and services, laws, guidelines and policies that c ...

, the design was adapted to include solar panels on the roof and recycle rain water. Construction work on the Europa building began in 2007, with the building originally planned to be finished and inaugurated by 2012.Result of the architectural competition for the restructuring of block A of the Résidence Palace building for use by the European Council
Council of the European Union However, due to setbacks and modifications to the design following the evolution of the European Council's needs as an institution during the

Lisbon Treaty The Treaty of Lisbon (initially known as the Reform Treaty) is a European agreement that amends the two Treaty, treaties which form the constitutional basis of the European Union (EU). The Treaty of Lisbon, which was signed by all Member stat ...

reforms, the building was completed in December 2016. Philippe Samyn and Studio Valle Progrettazioni received worldwide praise for the clever design. Nonetheless, in 2019, it emerged that the building had been constructed with unpaid work and illegal labour from mainly Bulgarian workers.

Features

A defining characteristic of the Europa building is the use of striking colour compositions designed by the painter Georges Meurant. The lead architect, Philipe Samyn, wished to break with the visual "uniformity" of other EU buildings, believing that the EU was "not being served well by its blue flag with its 12 stars". Further, he believed it "too bland an image of the multiple institutional, social, cultural constellations that structure European conscience". Samyn, inspired by the boldness of the Dutch architect

Rem Koolhaas Remment Lucas Koolhaas (; born 17 November 1944) is a Dutch architect, architectural theory, architectural theorist, urbanist and Professor in Practice of Architecture and Urban Design at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, Graduate School of ...

' 2002 "barcode" flag, commissioned Meurant to reflect the national heraldic symbols and flags, of the 28 member states in their diverse proportions and colours. Meurant's orthogonal

polychrome Polychrome is the "practice of decorating architectural elements, sculpture, etc., in a variety of colors." The term is used to refer to certain styles of architecture, pottery, or sculpture in multiple colors. When looking at artworks and ...

grid designs appear over ceilings in meeting rooms, doors, carpet flooring in conference rooms, as well as in the corridors, press room, catering facilities and elevators. Samyn and Meurant saw this as a way to not only bring more light and a warmer atmosphere into the building, and particular in the meeting rooms, which for security reasons had to remain windowless, but also to create a visual message, of "permanent creative effort and political debate" befitting a polyglottic diverse Union. File:Bruxelles - Europa building (23559441005).jpg, External view of the Europa building prior to its completion File:European Council (38185339475).jpg, Main meeting room featuring colour compositions designed by Georges Meurant File:European Council (27289609029).jpg, Internal view of the grand entrance atrium showing the "lantern-shaped" structure

References

External links

Information on the Europa building on the Council of the European Union and European Council's website

Result of the architectural competition for the restructuring of block A of the Résidence Palace Building for use by the European Council
* {{Council of the European Union Palaces in Brussels Art Deco architecture in Belgium Council of the European Union European quarter of Brussels Buildings and structures of the European Union Residential buildings completed in 1927