Gare Maritime Workspace

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 building dates from the beginning of the 20th century. Under the roofs of the side aisles, twelve wooden pavilions have been added to accommodate the new program. They create a new structure of boulevards and streets, parks, and squares that follow the urban context and the building structure in a natural way. The central space in the heart of the building has been kept open for public events. On both sides of the event space, the green walking boulevards are wide enough to plant ten large gardens.

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 and 17,000 m2 of solar panels have been installed on the roofs. At all levels, far-reaching sustainability measures have been implemented, such as geothermal energy and reuse of rainwater.

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.

 

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