Finance Tower
Encyclopedia
The Finance Tower is a skyscraper
in the Northern Quarter
central business district
of Brussels
, Belgium
, designed by the architects Hugo Van Kuyck, Marcel Lambrichs and Léon Stynen. It is the second tallest building in Belgium, and has the most office space of any building in Belgium.
. The height of the building is 145 meters, and it has 36 floors.
and Brussels-Central and Brussels-North
railway stations.
Budget restrictions slowed down the construction; work was practically paralysed from 1974 to 1978. The works resumed in 1978. Major work was finally finished in February 1981 but it was the end of 1983 before the tower at last opened its doors. Its external elevator core was intended to have had a marble facade, but this was scrapped because of the high cost.
, removal of all asbestos, the dismantling of the external elevator core and the building of new elevators inside the building. The office space lost by this move is compensated for by a new 11-storey building constructed to the east of the tower. The renovated building provides office space for 4,600 workers, an increase from the 3,200 prior to renovation.
The antenna, which is mounted on top of the tower, serves the two Belgian national television stations and is used only for digital broadcast.
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...
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 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...
, designed by the architects Hugo Van Kuyck, Marcel Lambrichs and Léon Stynen. It is the second tallest building in Belgium, and has the most office space of any building in Belgium.
Height classification
At the time of its construction, this skyscraper was the second tallest building in Belgium after the South TowerSouth Tower (Brussels)
The South Tower in Brussels is the tallest building in Belgium. It is 150 metres high and has 38 floors and also 3 basement floors, with 11 lifts. It stands next to the Brussels South Railway Station. It was built between 1962 and 1967...
. The height of the building is 145 meters, and it has 36 floors.
Location
The Finance Tower is situated to the crossroads of the boulevard of the botanical Garden (Boulevard du Jardin Botanique / Kruidtuinlaan) and the Royal Street (Rue Royale / Koningsstraat). It is served by many public transit systems, including the Botanique/Kruidtuin metro stationBotanique/Kruidtuin metro station
The Botanique or Kruidtuin metro station is a Brussels metro station on the northern segment of line 2. It opened serving a premetro line on 18 August 1974 and became a full metro station on 2 October 1988. The station is located under the small ring at King Street in the municipality of the...
and Brussels-Central and Brussels-North
Brussels-North railway station
Bruxelles-Nord / Brussel-Noord is one of the three major railway stations in Brussels; the other two are Brussels Central and Brussels South...
railway stations.
Purpose
The Finance Tower is part of a wider body: the Administrative City of the State. One objective was to group together the administrations of the State in order to increase productivity and to reduce the functioning wastes. The site is preferred because of its ease of access, most notably with the proximity of central train station. On top of this, the works of the North-South connection made the neighbourhood lifeless, and it was necessary to recreate a liaison between the upper and lower city.Construction
The tower is located on a site with a 13 metre difference between the highest and lowest altitudes. Producing the preliminary documents took nearly four years, from 1968 to 1972. Searches were performed down to a depth of 26 metres. The building of the foundations was made difficult by the presence of a water-logged clay terrain as well as by the tunnel of the North-South connection.Budget restrictions slowed down the construction; work was practically paralysed from 1974 to 1978. The works resumed in 1978. Major work was finally finished in February 1981 but it was the end of 1983 before the tower at last opened its doors. Its external elevator core was intended to have had a marble facade, but this was scrapped because of the high cost.
Renovation
The Finance Tower was involved in a large-scale renovation between January 1, 2005 and 2008. The plan comes about it back to the office of architects of Maurice Mottle, It involved replacing the old facade with a light blue and white curtain wallCurtain wall
A curtain wall is an outer covering of a building in which the outer walls are non-structural, but merely keep out the weather. As the curtain wall is non-structural it can be made of a lightweight material reducing construction costs. When glass is used as the curtain wall, a great advantage is...
, removal of all asbestos, the dismantling of the external elevator core and the building of new elevators inside the building. The office space lost by this move is compensated for by a new 11-storey building constructed to the east of the tower. The renovated building provides office space for 4,600 workers, an increase from the 3,200 prior to renovation.
The antenna, which is mounted on top of the tower, serves the two Belgian national television stations and is used only for digital broadcast.