Royale Belge

Watermaal-Bosvoorde, Belgium 2019 – 2023

Client: Souverain 25

This commission was won in a design competition organised by the City of Brussels, and is a joint project with the Antwerp-based practice Bovenbouw Architectuur. The Royale Belge building, located in the south east of Brussels, was completed in 1970 as the headquarters of the Royale Belge insurance company (later Axa), and is a fine and rather luxurious example of corporate architecture from the 1960s. The building is organised as a cross-shaped tower above a very large two-storey podium, and contained conference and training facilities as well as offices for its 1000 head office staff. It was designed by the renowned Belgian architect René Stapels, and both the building and the landscape is a protected national monument.

Location plan

Site plan

Ground floor plan

First floor plan

Second floor plan

Cross-section

Project Update

Royale Belge

Brussels, Belgium

Renovation work continues at the Royale Belge in Brussels. The façade works have been completed, reinstating the original building’s iconic golden glass. The tower’s office floors and hotel rooms are nearing completion, with tenant fit-outs underway. Structural works for a new atrium have been completed, with two curved stairs connecting multiple functions across three floors. The atrium is naturally lit from above, with a large rooflight overhead that completes the pattern of the original diagrid roof.

Project: Royale Belge

Project update

Royale Belge

Brussels, Belgium

Renovation work continues at the Royale Belge in Brussels. The façade replacement of the tower has been completed, which replicates the original design but with an expanded insulation zone. Work on the podium façade is underway, with a series of new openings connecting it to the landscape. A large cut has been made in the base of the building making way for the new atrium and four new columns to support the existing diagrid roof have been added.

Project: Royale Belge

Project update

Royale Belge

Brussels, Belgium

Enabling works are underway at the Royale Belge in Brussels. The 1970's office building is being renovated by Caruso St John in collaboration with Bovenbouw Architectuur and DDS+.

Project: Royale Belge

Planning permission

Royale Belge

Brussels, Belgium

Planning permission has been granted for the renovation and alteration of Royale Belge, a listed former company headquarters in the south of Brussels. The 39,000 sqm office building, built in 1970 and standing within a landscape that is also now listed, has been empty for the last 5 years. The new mixed use programme includes offices, hotel, health club, restaurant and co-working, and is being developed by the consortium Souverain 25.

Project: Royale Belge

Location
Brussels (Watermaal-Bosvoorde), Belgium

Date
2019 - present

Client
Souverain 25 SA

Heritage
Heritage Listed by the Royal Belgian Commission of Monuments and Sites

Area
39,000m²

Caruso St John Architects
Adam Caruso, Peter St John

Project team
Nele Bergmans, Vassia Chatzikonstantinou, Kouros Azar, Benjamin Wells, Will Pirkis, Timo Keller, Fabienne Sommer, Shaan Patel

Collaborating architects
Bovenbouw Architectuur
DDS+

Heritage architect
Ma2

Landscape architect
Atelier EOLE Paysagistes

Structural engineer
Ellyps NV