'European Debate' - A high rise proposal for the European Commission

The question of dealing with public & private zoning, and especially that area where the two meet, is one of the fundamental questions in architecture. In this project, this area has an important role, both functional and metaphorical. The European Union knows a big gap between the people and the political power. The EU is democratic in theory, but in practice it seems very technocratic, with a very big distance between the people and the power. This gap also shows in the city of Brussels, where the European Quarter is like an island within the city center. Inhabitants of brussels do not visit the neighborhood, while the EU-workers do not leave the area. The decision to build a skyscraper as the new European Commission headquarters will only cause a bigger distance to the people. The skyscraper typology is based on efficient development, not on architectural quality. It's a typology that separates the interior from the urban context in a very rough way. Instead of creating larger barriers, the new EC building should instead be a connective element between the metaphorical people and power. To achieve this, the city is extended inside the building. A neighborhood-like urban structure is creating in the form of interior public space. Different themed zones of public functions are added to the building to create a mixture that will be both usefull for the EC-employees as for any other inhabitant or visitor of brussels. A vertical metro-system removes the barrier of going up into the building, by offering a capacity comparable to the urban metro running underneath the building, and makes the interior public space part of the city.Materialization - TALL VCEArchitectureArchitectur