Maisin Centre, Quartier Léopold Brussels, Belgian Office Building, Architecture, Architect

Maisin Centre Brussels, Belgium : Quartier Léopold Building

Office Building in Belgium design by sca Architectes Associés

5 Apr 2012

The Maisin Centre Brussels

Design: sca Architectes Associés sprl

Offices Building

Maisin Centre

The Maisin Centre is established on a small allotment, 15 metres in width, in the heart of the “quartier Léopold” in Brussels.

Its conception is, in essence, a re-interpretation of the traditional patricianʼs lay-out with its characteristic passageway entrance open to pedestrians, encompassing some ten-odd meeting rooms and offices.

photographs : Marc Detiffe

These are nestled between two existing independent party walls, and organised around a private inner courtyard for the basement and ground floor levels.

Natural light thus abounds within the back volumes, notably in the common areas and the personnelʼs cafeteria.

The top four levels house duplex workspaces in a stacked and open-plan style, with the stairwell kept close against the street façade. The necessary amenities such as stairwell, sanitaries and lift shaft hug tightly together against one party wall in order to liberate space along the other. The transparency of the floor-to-ceiling façades accentuates the simple openness of the form.

The palette of materials used is deliberately limited so as to better highlight the translucency of the building: reinforced raw concrete structure left apparent, understated finesse of the round steel mushroom columns playing on the icy-grey steel girders and galvanised steel ventilation tubes. The perforated galvanised steel sheeting enveloping the elevator and stairwell emits a constant coloured halo of fluorescent light through its tiny piercings. The ceilings and exterior porches are treated in similar fashion, conveying the artist Jean Glibertʼs architectural sensitivity.

In this manner, the ethereal (light and colour) and material worlds are re-united, as are mind and body, emphasising the strong contemporary identity of the Maisin Centre.

photographs : Marc Detiffe

Maisin Centre Brussels – Building Information

Architect: sca Architectes Associés sprl
m. desmedt – m. lacour – s. leribaux – d. van Cauwenberghe
Description: Construction of an office building
2002-04
Site: Rue du Commerce, 70-72 1040 Brussels – Belgium
Client: Centre Interdiocésain asbl
Collaborating: Structural engineer: Setesco
Service engineer: F.T.I.
Contractor: Amart sa
Artist: Jean Glibert
Total surface: 1 591 m2 above ground level and 725m2 below ground level
Budget: 3 160 000€
Honors: Prix dʼArchitecture Bruxelles-Horta 2005

Maisin Centre Brussels images / information from sca Architectes Associés sprl

Location: Rue du Commerce, 70-72, 1040 Brussels, Belgium, Europe