Design collective Europarc has been selected to renovate the European Parliament's Paul-Henri Spaak building in Brussels, with a design featuring a latticed framework and a rooftop botanical garden.
The proposal will see the European Parliament building renovated by the five architecture studios that form part of the design collective Europarc, in an effort to reduce the carbon emissions that would be generated by demolishing the existing building and constructing a new one.
Europarc will renovate the parliamentary building
"The current Spaak building has numerous shortcomings," said Europarc. "However, demolishing it and replacing it with a new 'palace' might be the wrong approach."
"In the building sector, over 50 per cent of the carbon footprint generated happens in constructing the raw structure of a building. If fully dismantled, all that expense is lost and needs to be spent again in a new construction. Here, the strategy should be to rigorously re-use most of the Spaak structure, its carbon expense." It will add botanical gardens and public paths through the building
Europarc is a design collective made up of five architectural studios ? Belgian studio Julien De Smedt Architects, French studio Coldefy, Italian studio Carlo Ratti Associati, Dutch studio NL Architects and Spanish office Ensamble Studio.
The collective will be supported by engineering companies including UTIL and Ramboll.
Renders of the proposal show the postmodern Paul-Hen...