The project will be carried out by the Brussels manufacturer Beliris, which has a budget of 4.6 million euros. Also the City of Brussels will participate in the budget for the renovation. In fact, on Monday night, it has decided to release additional 500,000 euros, in case Beliris budget wouldn’t be enough.

« That’s about 10% of the budget, bringing the total to almost five million euros, » sais Youri Maury, the spokesman of the alderman of Brussels Public Heritage Khalid Zian. « We do not know if we will need it, but we will set it aside in the years to come to have a sufficient margin. »

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After more than two years of work, the Place now has a brand new look, with a large, pedestrian-only space at its centre.

However, the installation of various pieces of urban furniture (e.g. benches) is still in progress. Thus, in order to be able to enjoy the Place without the presence of any construction equipment whatsoever, it will be necessary to wait until 2020.

The total amount of green space around the Place has also increased, from 300m² to 12,000m². However, some have complained that the Place now gives off a distinct impression of emptiness.

Works continue near Place de la Bourse and Place Fontainas.

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After a 9-hour long fight, the inferno was finally suffocated by a team of 400 firefighters. In the street, Parisians sang hymns as they watched their beloved church smolder. On the internet, videos of the tragedy went viral. Not only France, but the entire world felt wounded. The loss was immense.

In the hours that followed, hundreds of millions of Euros were pledged to repair the damages. Governments extended a hand of solidarity to the people of France, because for everyone one thing was clear: the 850-year old building must continue to stand, resurrected, as an emblem of the beautiful city of Paris for future generations.

Notre Dame’s Cathedral was built over the span of not one or two, but several generations — it took 182 years to finish medieval church. The people who first embarked on its construction in the year 1160 knew that they wouldn’t live long enough to see the completion of the work, yet they gave their soul to the task while they could. Why?

To dive into this and other questions related to hope, the future of human kind, trees, literature and our connection to nature, I am in Oslo to meet Anne Beate Hovind, Project Director for Art at Bjørvika Development and Chairwoman of the Future Library Trust.

åpent bakeri is a coffee shop in the Bjørvika neighborhood in downtown Oslo. Several new and highly stylized buildings have been erected in this part of the city, one next to the other — people call it the Barcode district. On the floors above the cafe, offices from different companies overlook the Oslo fjord, its calm waters mirroring an expansive canvas of Nordic sky.

It’s half past noon and warm beams of April sunlight enter the room at an angle streaking the wooden floors with golden lines around me. I’ve been longing to speak with Anne Beate for a few days, ever since I found out about The Future Library, a project designed and executed by Anne Beate, along with Katie Paterson, a Scottish artist behind the art work. For the project, a thousand trees have been planted in Nordmarka, the forest on the northern outskirts of Oslo. In a 100 years’ time, the very same trees will become the paper for a collection of books, none of which can be read before 2114.

“Katie had spent a few days in my cabin, in Elverun, trying to think of ideas for a new project and one day she called and said, ‘I know what I am going to propose. It’s something that’s going to last for a hundred years.’ The first thing I thought was, How am I going to convince the board about this? How are we going to convince the municipality of Oslo?”

Among many other activities, Anne Beate works as an adviser and project director for art at Bjørvika Development, the company that has been in charge of construction, creating open public spaces and bringing life to the area.

“My first reaction was, It’s too risky. If the board asks me to run a risk assessment this is never going to fly. But a little later we realized that if you want to achieve something extraordinary, the kind of thinking that you need to have is the opposite. Instead of narrowing down, you have to open up and see what’s out there that hasn’t been tried yet.”

Anne Beate has green eyes and olive skin, delicate manners, the smile of someone whose passionate about life. “When Katie told me about the project, it confronted me with my own mortality,” she says. “When you think of the span of such a project, it’s too far into the future. But that’s where the ideas of hope and trust come into play. I have to trust that future generations will continue this project, and they also have to trust me, trust that I will take action now so that they can actually have a future.”

The idea of cathedral thinking comes from medieval times when architects and artisans embarked on building a cathedral knowing they would never see the end product. It is a shift of focus from the individual towards the collective good, as well as to the greater good of the future. “Not long ago Stephen Hawking referred to Cathedral Thinking when he said that the most meaningful thing life is not inheriting money, property, but rather inheriting a great challenge. A challenge that one generation starts and another continues and so on until the next one sees it fulfilled.”

From the time Anne Beate and Katie decided to set off on this adventure until it became a reality, they encountered many fortunate surprises. But also great challenges. “When Katie suggested that we have a chat with the Oslo Municipality and the Deichmanske Library to see if The Future Library could have a room of its own I thought, How are we going to convince them about something that needs 100 years to be completed?”

The new building for the Deichmanske Library, also in Bjorvika, is scheduled to open in 2020, as well as the new Edvard Munch Museum just a few meters into the Fjord, in what is a fantastic display of modern architecture and Nordic design.

One of the rooms in the new library was originally conceived to become a Silent Room, and that’s where The Future Library has found a home. “When Katie explained the idea to Liv Sæteren, Deichmaske Library’s director at the time, Liv started to cry. It was clear that she and Katie shared views on the idea of delayed publication, keeping the manuscripts, and so The Future Library will have a home right here in Bjørvika, in that building over there.”

The authors that have so far contributed manuscripts to The Future Library include: Margaret Atwood, David Mitchell, Sjón, Elif Shafak, and Han Kang.

“I still remember the day when Katie called to say Margaret Atwood had accepted to participate in the project. We realized that was of course huge and we were both in awe. And even to this day, we are astonished by how much The Future Library is touching so many people across the world. People are moved by it. Nobody could imagine how much it would resonate.”

When asked about whether this project could have happened anywhere else in the world, the forests of Canada or Finland, Anne Beate tilts her head and gazes at me. For a moment she seems to be considering the question, then says, “People say it couldn’t happen anywhere else, that it had to be in Norway.”

The idea of breaking up the soil and planting a thousand trees, tending to them and pruning the branches over time, all of it implies a desire to stay closer to nature, a trait that lies at the heart of Norwegian culture. “Yes, there is that, but there is something larger, the idea of hope. By doing this we believe that there will be people in the future, that there will be a forest. We need strong narratives that, in an ever-changing world, show us how to reconnect with nature.”

The smell of smoked ham, melted cheese and brewed coffee wafts in the air. People around us chatter in low voices; they are at the end of their lunch breaks. Anne Beate opens her computer and shows me pictures of the ceremonies that have taken place every year when an author hands over his/her manuscript to the city of Oslo. A walk starts in the middle of the city and ends up in the forest, where the young trees have been planted. This year, on May 25th, South Korean writer Han Kang will be in Oslo to deliver her work to the city, her gift to The Future Library.

I thank Anne Beate for her time and for her insights; so many thoughts to take in. As I leave the cafe and walk into the cool sunny afternoon, I cannot but think back to the idea that letting go of an outcome can mean both, living fully in the present and caring about the future. In the middle of a bridge I stop and bring a hand to my brow to shield my eyes from the glare. I watch a train ride by, a slow procession of wagons one after the other, until the clattering dissolves into distance. I continue walking, somewhat dazed, not knowing which path I will follow. And the words of Han Kang still linger in my head:

“If it is possible to call prayer the moment when, in spite of all the uncertainty, we have to take just one step towards the light, in this moment I feel that perhaps this project is something close to a century-long prayer.”

***

My encounter with Anne Beate Hovind wouldn’t have been possible without the help of Mathilde Rübberdt, Communications Advisor for VisitOSLO.

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Sunlight ebbs up the walls while I walk along Avenue de la Couronne. There is sand covering the cobblestones, the beach coming through cracks on the pavement, and the thought that only the rain washes it away. What the situationists once found in Paris, how the streets you walk through affect you, works in wondrous ways in Brussels.

The plants growing in a doorway suggest that while whoever lives there was on holiday, someone rang the bell and the garden grew through the house to see who was there.

Brussels doesn’t belong to anyone. If it did, surely there wouldn’t be any dog poo on the ground. Or it belongs to those who make it their own, like the little green parrots who travelled from Ixelles to every other park and tree in the city.

Not only is there no dominant picture of Brussel-Bruxelles, but it holds locations for all kinds of movies in close proximity. While pink love hearts shoot out from the walls of the ING center at Trone on Valentine‘s Day, the little round garden that the building hugs seems to be the entry to Narnia. High facades hide wholly different buildings behind them, as if they were part of a Truman show, questioning that what we see is what we know.

Some houses pose as casually dressed castles. Every one of them is so peculiar that their specialness becomes ordinary. Around one balcony all kinds of architectural flavors are mixed: pillars that change appearance midway, a Tympanum, and rounded balustrades – as if there was a vote of all the people living in the building to say that yes, everyone had a right to their taste, and the compromise was to only do it to the outside of your own room. Towers reach into the air like feelers, windows stick out of big roofs like heads wearing hats, and gardens cover the uneven skin of the city.

Junya Ishigami, a Japanese artist and architect, said that to children furniture was architecture. I think of that when opening a big door whose handle is at the level of my nose. The door belongs to the house of my doctor and behind it stands a big dog. The waiting room has a chimney and armchairs with big upholstery. When I come out of his office near Parc Tenbosch the sky is bright blue.

Half an hour later, in Matonge, rain turns to hail giving the street goosebumps and the trees in Parc Royal are dark scribbles on grey sky. There is already what looks like a Japanese cherry tree in bloom and statues expose, almost wiggle, white marbled-toes.

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From guided tours of interiors usually closed to the public, conferences, events, activities for families, a fair for period objects, the Festival will once again be the unique opportunity to discover unpublished places that are part of the jewels of these two architectural styles.

Forty houses will open this year again to introduce the general public to these two architectural trends of which Brussels shelters some of the most emblematic places. In 2019, some of them will be accessible for the first time: this will be the case of the Maison Vizzavona in Ixelles, from Seeldrayers House in Saint-Gilles, from Maison Boelens to Forest, from Maison Delville to Uccle, House Boelpaepe in Sint-Agatha-Berchem, and Maison Saint-Cyr in the district of Squares.

The public will be able to discover the lifts, true heritage of Ixelles. The route will find some of the most famous buildings of Horta, such as the Solvay Hotel, the Max Hallet Hotel, or the Hotel Tassel, but also other exceptional places like Maison Autrique, the office and the hotel van Eetvelde, the Maison Devalck, the Maison Taelemans, the former workshop and home of the sculptor Ernest Salu or the Church of St. John the Baptist, to name a few.

The first Festival weekend will introduce you to Art Nouveau and Art Deco at a conference March 16th or to participate in a debate on « How to resurrect the interiors of Villa Cavrois? « , during the Heritage Apéros, 19 March.

During the weekend of March 23rd and 24th, a special « families » program will introduce the youngest with visits and workshops designed especially in collaboration with the CIVA, KANAL – Center Pompidou, Maison Autrique and BOZAR, and specific visits for the visually impaired and hearing impaired will be organized. A conference on the Gödöllö artists’ colony will be held at the cultural center while the German-speaking public will be able to attend guided tours for the first time in German for the duration of this second Festival weekend.

During the closing weekend, the usual fair of Art Nouveau and Art Deco objects that will take place on Sunday from 10h to 18h.

This concept is unique in Europe! Check out the full program on their website.

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This week I entered the Berlaymont building for the first time. Walking into it as a visitor feels like going on holiday except after passing through security there is no duty free. The corridors are lined with pictures of people and solar panels. The windows don’t fully open but the views are spectacular.

Looking out towards rue de la Loi there is the Europa building with a facade made of 3,750 wooden window frames set around an interior in the shape of an egg. The combination looks fragile and stable, closely tied and open, complicated and simple, strange, and it’s as it belonged here. It looks agile and utopian next to the older Justus Lipsius building where large tiled columns arch together at the roof towering over rectangular window panes.

Rain turns to snow dancing in mid-air before blanketing the streets, acting as a canvas for dog poo on the side walk, mingling and dissolving in puddles, then disappearing from view. The sky is blue and lit windows emanate life like human beehives.

In other places windows do fully open and it feels daring to exercise that freedom. Stepping out on the balcony in one of the tallest buildings in Brussels, the 26 story apartment tower next to Bar du Matin, is like walking at the edge of a cliff, or looking down from a suspended roller coaster. Everything below looks like mini Europe. It is maybe the only place that offers a full view onto the star-like architecture of the prison of Saint Gilles. The voices of guards can be heard up here, calling out the numbers of inmates who walk in the round fenced off grey yards. The building blocks are separated by green grass, a no man’s land between walls. The inmates of the prison of Saint-Gilles and any other Belgian prison have the right to flee. Only they ought to leave their prison clothes behind. The pursuit of freedom isn’t punishable. Stealing is. The law demands that they navigate their way out of their cells without breaking or stealing anything.

On Google maps Brussels looks like a web of streets around cells of houses. Zooming in on street level we face poly-stylistic facades. It seems like each house was built to unique measurements, with windows at and of different heights.

While houses seem to go straight up from the sidewalks their backs are often composed of Tetris-like shapes. The view out of a rear window in an artist studio in Anderlecht or a family home in Ixelles shows balconies and extra rooms that spring forward into the green space between the buildings. Sometimes whole houses can be found in these enclosed areas, hidden from street view.

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The jury, consisting of a number of top architects, select 40 such projects for the shortlist, which is then reduced to five finalists. After visiting in May, the jury announce the winner. This two-yearly prize also takes a critical look at contemporary European top-level architecture.

Of the 21 initial Belgian entries, out of a total of 338 in the 2019 edition, no less than 7 remain on the shortlist of 40 projects. Architects Vylder Vinck Tailleu even feature twice, with the residential care centre Kapelleveld in Ternat and the psychiatric centre PC Caritas in Melle. The agency TRANS architectuur is also on the list, with the Ryhove factory in Ghent, as well as the Spanish agency RCR Arquitectes and their Belgian partner Coussée & Goris with De Krook, knowledge centre and city library of the future in Ghent.

Foreign projects designed by Belgian agencies are also in the running. Namely, OFFICE Kersten Geers David Van Severen with its Solo House in Matarraña in Spain, 51N4E with the Skanderbeg Square in Tirana and Atelier d’architecture Pierre Hebbelinck with the cultural centre The Perret Hall in the French district of Montataire.

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The KBC site, building 12 and 14, consisting of green roofs is only 20 years old. However, the bank no longer needs such a big space for its activities and has decided to resell an entire block.

The new project is being carried out in collaboration with the Master Architect of the Brussels Region and the architectural competition was won by Bas Smet. The developer has decided to build 244 housing units as well as a 139-room hotel, 66m² collective-interest equipment, 1,500m² of offices, 1,300m² of shops, including a space for the catering industry and 200 parking spaces in the basement.

However, inhabitants of the region as well as environmental associations like Inter-environment and Bral, have opposed the demolition and reconstruction project. They argued that they do not understand the need for demolition, considering that the buildings are new. Local residents further complained about the densification of the canal area and the height of the buildings.

On the other side, the promoter argued that the places are unsuitable for conversion and he wants to give a new image to Avenue du Port. This will also allow for a small green space and sort of openness to the neighborhood.

A positive but conditional decision

The consultation committee gave a positive opinion on the project with a favorable majority. However, they requested that the building on the street front should have 4 instead of 5 floors. Furthermore, the number of apartments must be revised downward. The commission demanded that the collective equipment of 66m ² which is actually a nursery, grows to 150m ² in order to accommodate more children considering the number of apartments envisaged.

Originally the premises would be closed off, however, it was later requested that the premises remain open.

Brussels Environment added that the impact on mobility and parking in the neighborhood will be greater than expected by the developer.

A final decision has yet to be made. However, an appeal is expected.

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