OMA Wins Competition for SNCB Headquarters in Brussels

John Hill

25. 2月 2020

Image: Luxigon © OMA

OMA, together with Jaspers-Eyers Architects, has won the competition for the design of the new headquarters of the National Railway Company of Belgium. Designed by OMA partner Reinier de Graaf, the 75,000-sm project will create work space for 4,000 SNCB employees.

Image © OMA

The project at Fonsny Avenue 47-49, southwest of the center of Brussels, includes the preservation of three large buildings at Brussels-South station and the addition of 236-meter-long 11-story building facing the rail tracks. The existing buildings were built in 1958, when Brussels hosted the World's Fair, but they have sat vacant for decades.

Aerial of existing conditions (Image: Google Maps)

The new building added to the west side of the existing trio will be only 19 meters wide. It is described by OMA as "geological in scale" and "impressionistic in its effects." Conceptualized as "a serviceable analogy for the Janus-headed character of modern Brussels," the winning design is punctuated by porthole windows above a silhouette of the existing buildings.