As for the Belgian Royal building, its 54,000 m² now house the Mix, a complex with hotel + restaurants and bar, offices, coworking spaces, conference center, sports & well-being area. During Mipim, he was already awarded twice. “But Mipim highlights the developers, much less the architects. I was not there anyway. With the Europa Nostra prize, we reward work on heritage.”
This prize recognizes for the first time since its launch by the European Commission in 2002 the rehabilitation of a modernist building. “It only dates from 1970, and quickly became emblematic. This also proves that the jury for this prize is open-minded and does not just see the rehabilitation of old stones”smiles Metzger. “It was also a pleasure to meet my partners on this project since we mainly worked during the pandemic, without being able to see each other much. In recent days we have participated together in conferences and learned more about ourselves and our vision of the profession of architecture, and shared these thoughts with the public.
How will the new hotel life of the emblematic Royal Belgian building work?
Invited in 2013 by Cofinimmo to look into the history of the Belgian Royal building, Francis Metzger left the ship when its demolition was planned, given the security demands that the United States required to make it their embassy. “I was called back to this exciting project when the rehabilitation of the place was again on the agenda.”
In total, 26 winners were recognized in five categories (in addition to “Conservation and Adaptive Reuse”, there are “Education, Training and Skills”, “Research”, “Heritage Champions” and “Citizen Engagement and Awareness”). In this last category, one of the prizes went to “Square Kilometer”, born from the initiative of a historian in residence in Ghent, who invites residents to tell the hidden stories of their neighborhood, all ending with an exhibition at the Stam, the museum of the City of Ghent.
