Brussels Modernist Architecture

MultiBrussels is a striking glass-and-steel cube tucked into the historic Dansaert neighborhood, distinguished by its grid of square windows that reflect the street traffic like a kaleidoscope. Originally the headquarters for a major bank,…

The OXY Brussels shop features a facade covered in dense, preserved greenery that stands out against the surrounding gray stone of the Grand Place. This installation serves as a vertical garden, a deliberate contrast to the centuries-old…

The National Bank of Belgium building on Rue Neuve features an imposing facade of columns and heavy stone, designed to convey absolute stability. Before this structure rose in the mid-nineteenth century, the bank operated out of the former…

The Jardin de la Cité Administrative sits inside a concrete basin, sunk below the street level of the surrounding office district. This sunken garden marks the footprint of the former Saint-Jean Hospital, which occupied this site for…

The brick facade of Brussel-Centraal features narrow, vertical windows and a repetitive rhythm that marks it as the work of Victor Horta. Construction dragged on for decades, starting in nineteen eleven but stalling through two world wars.…

The Ravenstein Gallery stands out with its vaulted glass ceiling and elegant nineteen-fifties modernist frame. Built between nineteen fifty-four and nineteen fifty-eight, it carved a covered pedestrian path through an existing block to…

The Royal Library of Belgium anchors the Mont des Arts with a facade of heavy, clean stone lines that hide a vast underground labyrinth. It holds the Dukes of Burgundy’s original collection, a hoard of illuminated manuscripts that barely…