The Entwined Histories of Brussels Institutions
(2022) Institutions and the City: The Role of Architecture — ISBN: [978-3-03860-293-4], p. 106-177, published
Files
TheEntwinedHistoriesofBrusselsInstitutions.pdf
Open Access - Adobe PDF
- 39.77 MB
Details
- Authors
- Abstract
- MONUMENTAL OPENINGS — For centuries, the city of Brussels grew incrementally around the monuments within its walls. During the neoclassical period, the urban network underwent changes and the wide new streets created a series of perspectives, a novelty in the public space. The defensive works became less useful over time. When the second ramparts were razed, they gave way to the boulevards of the inner ring. Historically, two roads crossed Brussels from south to north in 977: the ‘lower’ Rue de Laeken and the ‘upper’ Rue Haute. In the mid nineteenth century, long streets were added, forming a sort of infrastructure for the Brussels Pentagon. Although relatively numerous, they did not affect the urban perception of the city’s inhabitants as much as the Royal Route (initiated in 1777) the central boulevards (1860–95) or Avenue Louise, Rue de la Loi, the route leading to the Basilica of Koekelberg, and later the boulevards of the North–South junction (1911–52). These mostly rectilinear routes each changed the way people lived in the city, combining practical concerns (journeys within the city, public health, new urban functions) and aesthetic concerns (cityscape). The desire to look at the city and its buildings has an impact on urban planning. Haussmann’s openings come to mind, the grandiose perspectives and their apotheosis. French philosopher Régis Debray sums up the effects of this act of distancing, an act that produces the monumental character of architecture, as follows: ‘Vertically, one raises (plinth, pedestal, tiers or pilotis in the style of Le Corbusier).
- Affiliations
Citations
Ledent, G., & Vandernoot, C. (2022). The Entwined Histories of Brussels Institutions. In Gérald Ledent, Cécile Vandernoot (ed.), Institutions and the City: The Role of Architecture (p. p. 106-177). Park Books. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/233690