Description

A former dental clinic from the thirties near to the European Parliament was rebuilt and extended for the House of European History. The museum in Brussels’ European Quarter is not located on the Place Schuman as space was lacking. Instead, it is located a short way away just the other side of the noisy five-lane one-way Rue Belliard in the George Eastman building which stands in the attractive setting of Parc Léopold. The European Union acquired the building, designed and built in 1935 by the Swiss architect Michel Polak, and in 2009 launched a competition for the House of European History, which was won by Chaix & Morel from Paris in collaboration with JSWD from Frankfurt.

On the cornice of the faithfully restored façade, one can still read the inscription “Institut Dentaire George Eastman” in honour of the American philanthropist was committed to providing medical care for socially disadvantaged children. The architects inserted their addition into the vacant centre of the U-shaped building to complete the block, adding three further storeys to the central section, while leaving the side-wings at their original height. The design envisaged adding a predominantly transparent glass structure that would be open on all sides at the top, with asymmetrically placed exhibition boxes legible on the outside due to their opaque glass cladding.

This original intention is, however, not as apparent in the finished building. It is also not immediately apparent that the building is a museum. While the bright glass structure is evident, it lacks the originally envisaged transparency. Apparently, the concept of the exhibition designers from Seville was based on windowless rooms within which exhibits can be freely placed, and the result is a compromise between two contrary ideas.

The entrance to the house is not via the open stairs and the impressive original portal, but via the lower ground floor of the plinth, which has new entrances on either side. Chaix & Morel answer the problem of the low room height by punching round openings with glass balustrades into the ceiling. Visitors looking up through these openings see into the former entrance level and the dental clinic’s waiting room with its restored murals – colourful depictions of animals from the fables of Jean de la Fontaine, which were intended to distract the children before their dental treatment.

The upper entrance hall, lined with stone and with no recognisable new use, and a conference room clad in noble wood from the Congo, are the only interiors that remain from the original building. The rest was completely gutted. Next to the central atrium is an open staircase with a shallow gradient and elegant lightness achieved – by the German engineer Werner Sobek – by suspending it via steel cables from the ceiling. Three sides of the atrium are enclosed by the old brick rear façades of the dental clinic. On the fourth side, opening off the atrium, is the new wing and its comparatively modest display areas for the permanent exhibition with a total of 4000 m².

The internal organisation of the House of European History remained undecided for a long time. Initially, the idea was to proceed from top to bottom. Then the decision was made to go from bottom to top. Because there are seven exhibition levels, the panorama lifts were generously dimensioned. The permanent exhibition begins after the two lowest levels for temporary exhibitions. Visitors must organise their trip well and are well-advised to take a tablet-guide with them as there are no inscriptions on the exhibits.

Only on the third floor does the exhibition extend over the entire floor area of the new and old buildings. Inside, the lack of lightness and transparency is even more apparent as one cannot see the skin of the new building at all: the exhibition designers have closed them off with blinds. On the top floors, it is also not possible to wander in the open spaces between the exhibition boxes, which are designed as terraces with wooden floors and benches.

The new addition, in effect a 14-metre-high glass display case, augments and enriches the museum and appears almost immaterial from outside. When the roller blinds and venetian blinds have been raised, the glass skin, printed with white stripes that act as a light filter, along with its supporting structure of between six and four layers of glass panels looks quite exquisite.

Originally published in Bauwelt 11.2017, pp. 32-39, abridged and edited for Building Types online, translated by Julian Reisenberger

---