The Berlaymont building is an important government building in Brussels. It is the headquarters of the European Commission. The building is on the corner of two main streets in Brussels, Wetstraat, and Schumanplein. It is surrounded by various European and international services. The part of the city in which the building is located is called the European Quarter, which is why Brussels is internationally regarded as the capital of Europe.
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| Picture by Pixabay |
The place of the building was originally occupied by the Monastery of Berlaymont. They managed a well-known girls' school, originally founded by Florent van Berlaymont's wife. That is where the name of the current building comes from. In the early 1960s, the Belgian state bought the domain to anchor the European presence in Brussels.
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| Picture by Pixabay |
Architect Lucien De Vestel designed the original building together with Jean Gilson, Jean Polak, and André Polak. It consists of a tower in the shape of a cross, through which four wings depart from a central hub. The building contains offices for 3000 officials. The meeting rooms are at the top, and the restaurant, television studio, conference rooms, storage space, parking, and other services can be found in the cellars.
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| Picture by Pixabay |
The architects Pierre Lallemand, Steven Beckers, and Wilfried Van Campenhout designed the redesign of the building in 1997. The most important changes were a meeting room upstairs in the southeast wing, a complete structure with three meeting rooms on the northeast side of the site, a double facade around the entire building with movable glass panels on the outside, and large openings in the ground floor for more daylight.