Dexia Tower
Encyclopedia
The Dexia Tower is a skyscraper
located in the Northern Quarter
central business district
of Saint-Josse-ten-Noode
, Brussels
, Belgium
. It owes its name to its current tenant, the bank Dexia
. It is the third tallest building in Belgium.
It is built on the site of the Rogier International Centre , also called the Martini Tower, which was formerly the tallest building in Belgium, but was demolished in 2001. Constructed between 2002 and 2006, the Dexia Tower is 137 m tall. It was originally planned to be 179 m tall, but the proposal was rejected because the height was thought to be excessive. The Dexia Tower is also one of the few towers in Brussels whose roof is not horizontal, instead being made up of three inclined sections. It is also one of the only towers in the world to have a fully glass roof. Dexia claims that the opposite sloping of the roofs are reminiscent of the stylized letter X in the Dexia logo
.
, allowing a broad palette of colours to be formed. These are lit up to form colourful displays, with each window acting as a pixel
. To minimize power consumption, the LEDs only illuminate the outside of the closed blinds, and the reflection off the blinds illuminates the window. Usually the display is just abstract patterns or the temperature
, but on special occasions and major holidays, customized displays are shown. Due to the late-2000s recession, the lighting has been greatly reduced, and the displays are now on for only 10 minutes an hour.
Skyscraper
A skyscraper is a tall, continuously habitable building of many stories, often designed for office and commercial use. There is no official definition or height above which a building may be classified as a skyscraper...
located in the Northern Quarter
Northern Quarter (Brussels)
The Northern Quarter is the central business district of Brussels, Belgium. Similarly to the Zuidas in Amsterdam or La Défense in Paris, the Northern Quarter consists of a concentrated collection of high-rise buildings....
central business district
Central business district
A central business district is the commercial and often geographic heart of a city. In North America this part of a city is commonly referred to as "downtown" or "city center"...
of Saint-Josse-ten-Noode
Saint-Josse-ten-Noode
Sint-Joost-ten-Node or Saint-Josse-ten-Noode is one of the nineteen municipalities located in the Brussels-Capital Region of Belgium....
, Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
, Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
. It owes its name to its current tenant, the bank Dexia
Dexia
Dexia N.V./S.A., also referred to as the Dexia Group, is a Belgian-French financial institution active in public finance, providing retail and commercial banking services to individuals and SMEs, asset management, and insurance...
. It is the third tallest building in Belgium.
It is built on the site of the Rogier International Centre , also called the Martini Tower, which was formerly the tallest building in Belgium, but was demolished in 2001. Constructed between 2002 and 2006, the Dexia Tower is 137 m tall. It was originally planned to be 179 m tall, but the proposal was rejected because the height was thought to be excessive. The Dexia Tower is also one of the few towers in Brussels whose roof is not horizontal, instead being made up of three inclined sections. It is also one of the only towers in the world to have a fully glass roof. Dexia claims that the opposite sloping of the roofs are reminiscent of the stylized letter X in the Dexia logo
Dexia
Dexia N.V./S.A., also referred to as the Dexia Group, is a Belgian-French financial institution active in public finance, providing retail and commercial banking services to individuals and SMEs, asset management, and insurance...
.
Lighting
The building has 6000 windows, and 4200 of these are equipped with an average of 12 lightbulbs, each having a red, green and blue LEDLEd
LEd is a TeX/LaTeX editing software working under Microsoft Windows. It is a freeware product....
, allowing a broad palette of colours to be formed. These are lit up to form colourful displays, with each window acting as a pixel
Pixel
In digital imaging, a pixel, or pel, is a single point in a raster image, or the smallest addressable screen element in a display device; it is the smallest unit of picture that can be represented or controlled....
. To minimize power consumption, the LEDs only illuminate the outside of the closed blinds, and the reflection off the blinds illuminates the window. Usually the display is just abstract patterns or the temperature
Weather beacon
A weather beacon is a beacon that indicates the local weather forecast in a code of colored or flashing lights. Often, a short poem or jingle accompanies the code to make it easier to remember....
, but on special occasions and major holidays, customized displays are shown. Due to the late-2000s recession, the lighting has been greatly reduced, and the displays are now on for only 10 minutes an hour.