The following description is courtesy of Neutelings Riedijk Architects.
Gare Maritime, once Europe’s largest railway station for goods on the Tour & Taxis site in Brussels, has been transformed into a covered city with a mixed program of working and shopping and plenty of public space to relax. Under impressive steel roofs Neutelings Riedijk Architects designed the new Gare Maritime as a city district; ‘a city where it never rains’.
Public gardens and squares
The old station from the beginning of the 20th century consists of three larger and four smaller halls. Under the existing roofs of the side aisles, twelve new pavilions have been added to accommodate the new program. They create a new structure of boulevards and street, gardens and squares, that follows the existing urban context and the building structure in a natural way, like a true city.
The central space in the heart of the building has been kept open for public events. It has a pleasant climate which follows the changing of the seasons. Inspired by the ‘Ramblas’, on both sides of the event space a green walking boulevard is created. The 16 meters wide pedestrian routes give enough room for spacious inner gardens, with a hundred large trees. Gare Maritime counts a total of ten gardens based on four themes: the woodland garden, the flower garden, the grass garden and the fragrance garden. For the squares, Brussels visual artist Henri Jacobs designed eight mosaics.
Largest CLT-project in Europe
The new pavilions have been constructed in Cross Laminated Timber (CLT), with an enormous reduction in the amount of cement as a result. The choice for wood also had a favorable effect on the construction process: thanks to prefabrication and the dry constructing method, the construction time was considerably shorter.
State-of-the-art in sustainability
Gare Maritime is entirely energy neutral and fossil free. The glass facades on Picardstreet are provided with solar cells. On the roofs a total area of 17,000 m2 of solar panels has been installed. At all levels far-reaching sustainability measures have been implemented, such as use of geothermal energy and reuse of rainwater.
Gare Maritime is an important contribution to the sustainable development of the Tour & Taxis site and the Kanaalzone in Brussels.
This project was commissioned by Extensa and realized in cooperation with Bureau Bouwtechniek, Ney & partners, Boydens engineering and OMGEVING. In the first phase, the existing historic building was carefully restored by Jan de Moffarts Architects, Bureau Bouwtechniek, Ney & Partners and Boydens.
Project Details
- Program: mixed urban program: offices, retail, catering services and event space
- Surface area: 45.000 m2 sqm
- Location: Picardstraat, Tour & Taxis, Brussel, BE
- Client: Extensa Group
- Start design: Q1 2017
- Start construction: Q3 2018
- Completion: Starting from November 2019
- In use: First offices opened in November 2019
Design Team
- Architect: Neutelings Riedijk Architects, Rotterdam, i.c.w. Bureau Bouwtechniek, Antwerpen
- Architectural design: Neutelings Riedijk Architects
- Architectural design team: Michiel Riedijk, Willem Jan Neutelings, Dieter de Vos, Kenny Tang, Alejandro Mosquera Garcia, Alexey Boev, Anselmo Nižić, Frank Venhorst, Pietro Manara
- Architectural engineering: Bureau Bouwtechniek
- Civil and structural engineering renovation: Ney & Partners BXL
- Civil and structural engineering new pavillions: Ney & Partners WOW
- MEP: Boydens engineering, Brugge
- Building physics: Boydens engineering, Brugge
- Landscape architect: OMGEVING, Antwerpen
- Restoration architect: Jan de Moffarts, i.c.w. Bureau Bouwtechniek
- Interior designer (public spaces): Neutelings Riedijk Architects
- Artist: Henri Jacobs
- Cost consultant: Bureau Bouwtechniek
- Acoustics: Venac, Brussel
- Fire safety: FPC Risk, Antwerpen
- Main contractor: MBG
- Wood contractor: Züblin
- Installations contractor: Cegelec, VMA, NTSA, Van Hoey, IFTech
- Project coordination, safety manager, BREEAM assessor: Bopro
Copyrights
- Photography: Filip Dujardin / Sarah Blee / Tim Fisher
- Drawings: Neutelings Riedijk Architects / Bureau Bouwtechniek / Ney & Partners / Omgeving
Awards
- Nomination ARC20 Architecture Award
- Nomination BTCA Belgian Timber Construction Awards
