De antigua fabrica de Citroën a nuevo "Centre Pompidou" por NOA, EM2N y SBA

La propuesta diseñada por el equipo internacional, formada por los arquitectos NoAarchitecten (Bruselas), EM2N (Zurich) y Sergison Bates (Londres), se tituló "Un escenario para Bruselas", desarrollará el nuevo "KANAL - Centre Pompidou" de Bruselas, de 125 millones de € , y albergará un Museo de Arte Moderno y Contemporáneo, un centro de arquitectura de la Fundación CIVA, así como una serie de espacios de arte público.

El proyecto ganador resalta todos los elementos icónicos de la arquitectura existente. La sala de exposición vaciada y reestructurada se convertirá en KANAL, la "ventana de visibilización" del Centro Pompidou, que alberga instalaciones, actuaciones y conciertos en la planta baja, y un restaurante en el tercer piso. El gran friso blanco al aire libre se extenderá para rodear todo el edificio en forma de un letrero de pantalla electrónica que se puede utilizar para comunicar información o que se puede integrar en un proyecto artístico.

En el interior, una 'calle transversal' cruzará el sitio de 35.000 m², dando acceso a tres grandes 'cajas en la caja', que se insertará en los talleres anteriores y albergará el Museo de Arte Moderno y Contemporáneo, la Fundación CIVA y un auditorio de 400 asientos. Esta solución permitirá al equipo de arquitectos internacionales controlar las condiciones climáticas de los diferentes espacios, pero también refleja el deseo del equipo de dar vida a todas las fachadas del edificio. El museo se beneficiará de los espacios de exhibición repartidos en cuatro plantas de diferentes alturas, lo que hace posible una amplia gama de configuraciones.

Work will begin in the autumn of 2019 and will be phased over several stages until the official opening in late 2022, enabling KANAL - Centre Pompidou to organize temporal cultural activities throughout the duration of the work.

Reflecting on this building, this location, the idea of a cultural hub calls for an overall attitude, an approach to dealing with all the questions at stake. Rather than a spectacular gesture, our proposal offers an attitude of Radical Optimism: critical, receptive, dedicated, precise. Out of the comfort zone. Thinking about Brussels, its future and complexity, requires a radical approach. Not in terms of architecture – here we just need an intelligent approach – but in terms of the infrastructure the Region offers its inhabitants. The spaces may be recognizable, but the atmosphere, the energy, the dynamics should be experienced rather than displayed. We want to radically engage with and trust what is there.

-noAarchitecten, EM2N, Sergison Bates

The winning team has conceived the cultural hub as a ‘welcoming, lively and dynamic place of exchange, a place that invites all Brussels residents to feel at home there’. The project stood out also through its collaborative approach: the architects engaged in wide-ranging concertation with the sociocultural scene, whether locally (among others, JES, Maison des cultures et de la cohésion sociale, several Brussels artists) or internationally (Tate Modern, Deutsches Architekturmuseum). The project also includes an extension of the Kaaitheater and a functional connection with neighbouring institutions.

The project fully integrates KANAL - Centre Pompidou in its urban context, among others thanks to openings in all the façades and a selection of activities (workshops, shops) that give out onto the surrounding urban axes, onto the canal and the Maximilien Park. The project stresses sustainability, heavily limiting the use of new materials and needs in terms of heating/cooling (there are different levels of climatic comfort depending on the spaces). Likewise, sources of heat and cooling come from the immediate environment (water from the canal, underground, roofs).

Launched on 28 March 2017 by the Urban Development Corporation (SAU-MSI) of the Brussels-Capital Region, the owner of the former garage since 2015, later taken over by the Foundation KANAL, this international architecture competition is one of the most important ever to have been organized in Brussels (work budget: 125 milliones de € excl. IVA).

After an initial selection among the 92 projects submitted, 7 teams were invited to present a competition project to an international jury mandated by the Board of Administrators of the Foundation KANAL. Presided by the Swiss architect Roger Diener, this jury was composed of international experts, of the Chief Architect of the Brussels-Capital Region Kristiaan Borret and other administrative representatives of the Region, as well as of the president of the Centre Pompidou.