Cityscape's afloat!

Spotlights on and surrounding sounds : looks like an opening! Gorgeous.

Drop by and sit down - there are benches all around -, it's now open to all, for a year.

Pictures from the opening night Fri 14 Sep 2007.







Much more here (Flickr slideshow).

Building(s) for Europe exhibition features large scale model of Brussels

Free exhibition, until 30 Sep 2007, Building(s) for Europe is about the footprint of the European institutions in Brussels.

Besides bits of history and perspective, and very interesting booklets, it features models of several of its buildings in Brussels - can't help think we miss the opportunity to do something great...

Most interesting is the large scale model (about 6 x 6 m) of Brussels on the second floor.




I'm not a fan of the yellow tone given by the translucent films stuck on all windows. And the continuously changing tones in the lighting of the Brussels model is annoying.

It takes place in the former Quartier Léopold/Leopoldswijk station, and has nice long opening hours : 10:00 > 20:00 every day. Until 30 Sep 2007 and free.
www.buildingsforeurope.eu

Cityscape in Brussels, construction pictures (3)

Final shape in sight!

Thanks to Patrick Grauwels, Cityscape project leader, I got a lift up on the construction site.

Went with the refuelling - lemonade, no beer up there - and enjoyed a nice ride in the eye of "the shape"; a bit like passing through a cloud, minus the vaporized water and temperature drop.

Construction pictures from Sat 25 Aug 2007.








Much more here (Flickr slideshow).

Cityscape in Brussels, construction pictures (2)

It's a full circle now!

A few daring pigeons already try to take possession of the place.

At one time I thought of it as a kind of Marsupilami's cocoon, then of a parrots giant communal nest like the ones found sometimes in Brussels, and it now makes me wonder whether birds will nest in the structure...

Construction pictures from Wed 15 Aug 2007.





More here (Flickr slideshow).

Zaha Hadid's Z-Island kitchen in Living Tomorrow

By the way, about Zaha Hadid, her famed Z-Island kitchen is installed in the third instance of the Living Tomorrow house in Vilvoorde which opened in Spring 2007.

Don't miss it, it's next-door, and only there for five years...
There's even a webcam in the kitchen!

Living Tomorrow
Z-Island kitchen

Lilas by Zaha Hadid in London

July 2007 : temporary pavilion by Zaha Hadid and partner Patrick Schumacher commissioned by the Serpentine Gallery in London.



More here (Flickr slideshow).

Brussels is shy

I'd like Brussels to show off - to dare and share. It's not as much a matter of taste as of dynamics.

Summary of the last century : we've had Art Nouveau before WWI, a little Art Déco and modernism before WWII, and that's about it. I guess the last time something interesting popped up must have been the Expo 58.

I like the Serpentine Gallery in Hyde Park in London : each year they commission an architect to design an open pavilion for the duration of the summer.

Due to delays in the 2007 project, a short-lived interim installation was brought up by Zaha Hadid and partner Patrick Schumacher in July - result : Lilas (pictures in the next post). I want that in Brussels!

There are I think four schools of architecture in Brussels *; can't we tap into their creativity?

On the better side, in the last few years, the Schuman roundabout has become the stage for various displays of art or citizenship projects by states holding the 6-months presidency of the EU. The Dutch even got Rem Koolhaas/OMA to contribute in 2004!

Serpentine Gallery pavilions
Zaha Hadid Architects
OMA, Europe exhibition

* La Cambre, Victor Horta/ULB, Saint-Luc, Sint-Lucas