Brussels, Belgium
JSWD Architects, together with Chaix & Morel et Associés, have completed this new museum project to renovate and expand the landmark George Eastman Building in Brussels—a former dental clinic designed by Michel Polak in 1934—through the addition of a new glass expansion and by bringing the park and its history in line with contemporary Europe.
The park is like a green island and covers an area of 6 hectares in the district that has seen continuous change over the past 20 years.
The newly created structures of the expansion unfold from the existing inner courtyard to the superelevation.
Designed for the European Parliament, the House of European History project has been awarded a 2021 International Architecture Award by The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies.
The volume, which is encased by shimmering glass, emphasizes the presence of the museum as well as its modern character and builds an identity that can be seen as a point of reference.
The free arrangement of boxes inside the glazed volume adds vivid asymmetries that contrast the symmetrical volume of the existing building.
During daytime, the printed glass shell projects a frame over the inside-moving volumetry and filters the view when looking out from inside. The sleek form of the overall volume prevails.
At night the perception is reversed: the shell disappears, and the light reveals the play of the full and empty displaced, shaped volumes. The structure comes to life and is redefined by the light display.
The illuminated sculpture transforms into a shining lantern within the nocturnal park.
The strong overall concept of the museum emphasizes its importance at the center of the institutions of the European quarter.
Project: House of European History
Architects: JSWD Architects GmbH & Co. KG
Associate Architects: Chaix & Morel et Associés
Original Architects: Michel Polak (1934-1935)
Client: European Parliament
Contractor: BCP
Structural Engineers: Werber Sobek
Photographers: Christian Fabris, Christa Lachenmaier, Christian Richters, and Didier Boy de la Tour
