유럽 최대, 지속가능한 오피스 환경 구축을 위한 프로젝트가 벨기에 브뤼쉘에서 시작됩니다. 19세기 교통의 요충지로 사용되었던, 일명 'Tour & Taxis'로 불리우는 대지 위에 자리한 오피스 빌딩은 이 지역을 포함하는 거대한 도시 재생사업의 일환으로, 새롭게 조성된 운하와 부둣가에 마주한 매력적인 장소로 제공됩니다. 브뤼셀 환경보호국을 위한 건물의 지속가능한 건축환경은 이러한 장소성을 표현하는 주요한 매개체 역활을 수행하게 됩니다. 사람들에게는 그것보다 토스터기를 닮은 형상이 더 재미있게 다가오는지, 벌써 부터 '토스터기'라는 닉네임이 생겼습니다.
지속가능한 오피스 시작
공간 내부를 수직으로 관통하는 센트럴 아트리움은 각 층의 시야와 환경을 확장시키는 동시에 물리적인 연결과 쾌적성을 보장합니다. 이는 투명한 천창을 통해 확보되는 자연채광과 알루미늄 외장재 안쪽면의 블랙 마감재를 통한 열 흡수로 확보됩니다.
그라운드 플로어의 거대한 오픈스페이스는 내부광장을 연결하는 인포메이션 데크와 21세기 도시환경을 전시하는 영구 전시장으로 시작됩니다. 센트럴 아트리움에 위치한 메인 계단을 통해 각층은 직접적인 연결과 가시성을 확보합니다. 기능적 편리함을 위해 2층에 위치한 레스토랑은 직원들의 식사제공과 소셜활동을 위한 공용공간으로 제공됩니다. 이 위로 연속된 상부층은 연구실과 오픈-플랜 오피스가 자리합니다. (오픈-플랜으로 구성된 오피스는 유연한 작업환경을 지원합니다.) 최상층은 일광욕과 브뤼셀의 스카이라인을 감상하는 전망을 제공합니다.
reviewed by SJ, 오사
Europe’s largest entirely passive office building was inaugurated last January on one of Brussels major urban regeneration sites called Tour & Taxis on the inland port’s quayside.
This area owes its original name to the founders of the Belgian postal system, the Von Thurn und Tassis family. Once a major freight hub at the end of C19th with both waterway and railway facilities, Tour & Taxis is set to become today a model of sustainable urban regeneration that will attract the population back towards the canal quayside.
Brussels Environment Agency, Belgium
Program: office building
Architects: Architectenbureau Cepezed
Locas architects: Philippe Samyn and Partners
Building technical control office: SECO
Building physics and sustainable design: DGMR
Civil Engineers: Ingenieursbureau SmitWesterman - Ingenieursbureau Meijer bvba
Electrical engineering & HVAC: Flow Tech International
General building contractor: Van Laere. NV
Wooden screens: Jansen Finishings
Budget: € 50 million
Area: 19,690 sqm
Completion: 2014
To set this major urban scheme on the right footing the Brussels region decided to launch a flagship project by locating the new headquarters of the Brussels Environment Agency on the Tour & Taxis site. The powerful, easily recognizable design of the new building acts an icon to mark the launch of this new sustainable neighbourhood programme. With its bulging dark roof the building was quickly nicknamed “the toaster”.
These new offices are built around a central atrium that spans seven storeys high under a bulging, transparent roof that ensures constant natural lighting. The external aluminium cladding of the building is black to absorb the sunlight.
The large open space of the ground floor with its oval information desk acts as a link with the adjacent square and will host a permanent exhibition on the major environmental challenges facing 21st century cities from 2016. The main staircase runs around the central atrium and dovetails into a series of open balconies overlooking the atrium from the different floor levels. This large wooden staircase is, in fact, an extension of the bleachers in the adjacent auditorium, located on the west side of the building. A restaurant conveniently located on the first floor and overlooking the central atrium, serves food both for the agency’s staff and for the general public. The upper floors include a laboratory and open-plan offices allowing a lot of flexibility to organise work spaces. The top floors are bathed in natural daylight and provide striking views of the Brussels’ skyline.
Some 900 sqm of wooden screens designed by Nathalie Daele, the agency’s in-house architect, are disseminated throughout the different floor levels. Manufactured in American cherry they help to organise the different work spaces in this largely open-plan office layout. The rich, warm tones of cherry stand out very effectively against the plain white and light grey tones of the concrete floors and ceilings. The wooden screens bring into the building a natural element that acts as a thread line on the different floor levels.
from domusweb