Kirchberg District Centre

Last updated

Kirchberg District Centre
Stadtteilzentrum Kirchberg
Stadtteilzentrum Kirchberg, Avenue John F Kennedy - 2013.jpg
Kirchberg District Centre
Alternative namesForum Kirchberg
Joseph Bech building (offices)
Kirchberg Shopping Centre (shopping mall)
General information
TypeShopping mall and offices
Coordinates 49°38′00″N6°10′11″E / 49.633320°N 6.169780°E / 49.633320; 6.169780
Current tenants European Commission (principal office space occupant)
Auchan (principal retail space occupant)
Named for Joseph Bech (offices)
Opened1996 and 1998
Renovated2008 to 2009 (food court addition)
Design and construction
Architect(s)Martin Lammar
Architecture firmAtelier A+U
Other information
Parking3,500 parking spaces
Shopping mall details
Opening date26 November 1996
No. of stores and services66 shops
16 restaurants
Public transit accessAlphonse Weicker tramstop, Luxtram
Website kirchberg-shopping.lu/en

The Kirchberg District Centre [lower-alpha 1] (French: Centre de Quartier Kirchberg; German : Stadtteilzentrum Kirchberg) is a mixed-use building complex in northeastern Kirchberg, Luxembourg City, Luxembourg containing both an office complex and shopping mall, with their principal tenants respectively being the European Commission's statistical office, Eurostat, and an Auchan hypermarket. Those parts of the building dedicated to office use are collectively referred to as the "Joseph Bech building", after European Union (EU) pioneer and former Luxembourg prime minister, Joseph Bech. [2] The complex's shopping gallery is referred to as the "Kirchberg Shopping Centre".

Contents

History

Construction

Construction work on the Kirchberg District Centre began in October 1993, with those parts of the building related to the shopping mall completed in 1996, and the offices completed in September 1998. [3] [4] The total cost of the project was approximately 300 million euros. [5]

The project's chief architect was Martin Lammar of local architectural firm Atelier A+U, in partnership with Lars Iwdal of Swedish architectural firm arkitektbyrån ab, and Murray Church of Hochtief Luxembourg. [6]

Between 1999 and 2001, the building's car parking facilities were extended. [7]

Between April 2008 and July 2009 a 5.13 million euro a new food court was added to the shopping mall in work carried out by local construction firm CBL, utilising a design by architectural firm Moreno Architecture & Associates. [8]

Ownership and tenants

Those parts of the building corresponding to the shopping mall were acquired by French retail group Auchan. [9] An Auchan hypermarket, occupying the two storeys in the northeast of the shopping gallery, was installed as an anchor store. The retailer estimated a catchment area of 25 kilometres. [9] The store, and the wider shopping mall, opened to the public on 26 November 1996. Martin Draber, then director of Auchan Kirchberg, said the primary commercial rationale for its opening was to "recover part of the 8 billion Luxembourg francs" spent annually by Luxembourg consumers outside of its borders, rather than to directly compete with local businesses. [9] The shopping mall currently contains 66 shops and 16 restaurants. [10]

The complex's office space, known as the Joseph Bech building, was, between 2004 and 2018, part of a closed-end real estate fund owned by Commerz Real before being sold to an anonymous buyer. [11] [12] [13] Since the building opened in 1998, the principal tenant of the Joseph Bech building has been the European Commission, which uses the building to house its statistics body, Eurostat. [14] This arrangement was made due to the lack of office space provided for by the institution's then main Luxembourg complex, the Jean Monnet building. [14] The European Commission plans to vacate the building and the end of its current lease in 2023, with it relocating staff to the Jean Monnet 2 building, currently under construction in Kirchberg's European district. [15]

Design

The complex's main structure is an elongated five-story building, stretching from Avenue John F Kennedy to Circuit de la Foire Internationale. [2] The main structure has a gross area of approximately 180,000 m2 (1,900,000 sq ft), and consists of two parallel galleries either side of a central atrium spanned by a glass and polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) canopy roof. [2] [16] [1] [17] The first and second storeys comprise the shopping mall area, whilst those storeys above are dedicated to office space. [2] Bridges, which span the central atrium, above the shopping levels, connect the two parallel office spaces. [2] Attached to the main structure, along its northern edge, facing rue Carlo Hemmer, are four identical parallel five-storey wings used as office space. [2] Between the two wings closest to Circuit de la Foire Internationale lies a later extension to the shopping mall's second storey, in the form of a single-storey food court, adding 2,400 m (7,900 ft) of floor space. [2] A cuboid five-storey office structure attached to the wing closest to John F Kennedy faces out onto the road. [2] The Kirchberg District Centre is steel framed, with approximately 12,000 tonnes of steel used in the initial construction. [2]

Much of the building infrastructure and the parking garage, with 3,500 parking spaces, are located in the three basement levels of the building. [2]

Due to the increased terrain height of Circuit de la Foire Internationale, the building is stepped, with the pedestrian entrance to the shopping mall from Avenue John F Kennedy being raised from street level, and the shopping mall only occupying the second storey towards Circuit de la Foire Internationale. [2]

Location

The Kirchberg District Centre is situated in the Kiem district of the Luxembourg City quarter of Kirchberg. To the north is the country's largest cinema multiplex, Kinepolis Kirchberg and Luxembourg's national exhibition centre, "Luxexpo The Box". [2] Located between the complex and Circuit de la Foire Internationale is the Kubik building, [lower-alpha 2] a cube-shaped structure, currently occupied by the European Stability Mechanism. [19] [20]

The complex's official address, and principal street entrance for its office space is given as 5 rue Alphose Weicker, with the street forming the southern border of the building. [2] [21] However, the public entrances to the shopping mall are located to the east on Avenue John F. Kennedy, to the west on Circuit de la Foire Internationale, and to the north via the food court on rue Carlo Hemmer. [2]

Transport

Since December 2017, trams services have been available from the "Alphonse Weicker" tram stop located in front of the building's Avenue John F. Kennedy entrance.

Notes

  1. ↑ Sometimes also referred to in literature as the "Forum Kirchberg". [1]
  2. ↑ Previously known as the "Club House Kirchberg" [18]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Toronto Eaton Centre</span> Shopping mall and office complex in Toronto, Ontario, Canada

CF Toronto Eaton Centre, commonly referred to simply as Eaton Centre, is a shopping mall and office complex in the downtown core of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is owned and managed by Cadillac Fairview (CF). It was named after the Eaton's department store chain that once anchored it before the chain went defunct in the late 1990s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Araneta City</span> Central business district in Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines

Araneta City, formerly and still commonly known as Araneta Center, is a 35-hectare (86-acre) transit oriented, commercial mixed-use urban development in Quezon City, Philippines. Situated in Barangay Socorro in Cubao, and at the intersection of two major roads, Epifanio de los Santos Avenue (EDSA) and Aurora Boulevard, the area offers retail, dining, entertainment, residential, office, lodging and parking facilities throughout the complex and hosts over 1 million people daily, due to its close proximity to transport terminals, including the railway stations of the MRT Line 3 and the LRT Line 2.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eurostat</span> Statistics agency of the European Union

Eurostat is a Directorate-General of the European Commission located in the Kirchberg quarter of Luxembourg City, Luxembourg. Eurostat's main responsibilities are to provide statistical information to the institutions of the European Union (EU) and to promote the harmonisation of statistical methods across its member states and candidates for accession as well as EFTA countries. The organisations in the different countries that cooperate with Eurostat are summarised under the concept of the European Statistical System.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kirchberg, Luxembourg</span> Quarter in Luxembourg City, Luxembourg

Kirchberg is a quarter in north-eastern Luxembourg City, in southern Luxembourg. It consists of a plateau overlooking the north-east of the historical city center, Ville Haute, connected to the rest of the elevated city by the Grand Duchess Charlotte Bridge, which spans the Pfaffenthal valley. It is often referred to, in reference to the geographical feature it inhabits, as the Kirchberg plateau by Luxembourgish residents. Kirchberg is the predominant location of the European Union institutions and bodies based within Luxembourg, and is sometimes used as a metonym for the EU's judiciary, which occupies the quarter. It is thus the central business district of Luxembourg.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">European School, Luxembourg I</span> European school in Kirchberg, Luxembourg City, Luxembourg

The European School, Luxembourg I (ESL1) was the first of the European Schools. It was founded in October 1953 on the initiative of officials of the European Coal and Steel Community, with the support of the Community's institutions and the government of Luxembourg. In April 1957, it formally became the first of the European Schools. Today it is located on the Kirchberg-Plateau in Luxembourg City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sandton City</span> Shopping mall in Sandton, Johannesburg, South Africa

Sandton City is a large shopping centre situated in Sandton, Johannesburg, South Africa. It was built and owned by property development company Rapp and Maister, in partnership with brothers Hilliard and Eli Leibowitz, and was later taken over by Liberty Life.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spencer Plaza</span> Shopping mall in Chennai, India

Spencer Plaza is a shopping mall located on Anna Salai in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, and is one of the modern landmarks of the city. Originally built during the period of the British Raj and reconstructed in 1985 on the site of the original Spencer's department store, it is the oldest shopping mall in India and was one of the biggest shopping malls in South Asia when it was built. It is one of the earliest Grade A commercial projects of the city, which were developed in the second half of the 1990s. As of March 2010, it is the 11th largest mall in the country, with a gross leasable (retail) area of 530,000 sq ft.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Auchan</span> French multinational retail company

Auchan is a French multinational retail group headquartered in Croix, France. It was founded in 1961 by Gérard Mulliez and is owned by the Mulliez family, who has 95% stake in the company. With 354,851 employees, of which 261,000 have 5% stake in the company, it is the 35th largest employer in the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Parkway Parade</span> Shopping mall in Marine Parade, Singapore

Parkway Parade is a suburban shopping centre in Marine Parade, Singapore. Officially opened in March 1984, it has a 22-floor office tower and a seven-storey shopping mall with a basement. Developed by Parkway Holdings, the company sold the building to Asia Pacific Investment Company in 2000. The mall is managed by Lendlease.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Raffles City Singapore</span> Office, hotel, shopping complex in Downtown Core, Singapore

Raffles City is a large complex located in the Civic District within the Downtown Core of the city-state of Singapore. Occupying an entire city block bounded by Stamford Road, Beach Road, Bras Basah Road and North Bridge Road, it houses two hotels and an office tower over a podium which contains a shopping complex and a convention centre. The mall is managed by CapitaCommercial Trust and CapitaMall Trust. It was completed in 1986.

dCoque

The National Sports and Culture Centre d'Coque(French: Centre National Sportif et Culturel d'Coque), better known simply as d'Coque, is a sporting and cultural venue with an indoor arena and Olympic-sized swimming pool, amongst other facilities, in Kirchberg, a quarter of Luxembourg City, in Luxembourg. More recently it has expanded into providing onsite hotel services, and acting as a conference venue.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Meridian Mall, Dunedin</span> Shopping mall in Dunedin, New Zealand

The Meridian Mall is a large shopping complex in Dunedin, New Zealand designed by ASA Crone Architects, an Australian development company. At 16,000 m2 (172,222.6 sq ft) it is the largest retail mall in the southern South Island, and one of the largest in the South Island as a whole.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Iulius Town Timișoara</span> Romanian shopping mall

Iulius Town Timișoara is the name of a mixed-use development, edge city and shopping mall located in Timișoara, Romania. Owned by the Iulius Group–Atterbury Europe consortium, the project was conceived from the beginning to integrate Iulius Mall, now completed with office, retail and entertainment functions. The mixed project includes, in addition to the shopping area, a park, event rooms, offices, a health center, a cinema and over 4,000 parking spaces. Over 442 million euros were invested in the first phase of the project, partially inaugurated in August 2019, being one of the largest infusions of private capital in the real estate sector ever made in Romania. The estimated annual traffic for Iulius Town is over 20 million visitors.

Bucharest is the most economically developed and industrialised city in Romania, producing around 21% of the country's GDP and about one-quarter of its industrial production, while only accounting for 9% of the country's population. Almost one third of national taxes is paid by Bucharest's citizens and companies. In 2009, at purchasing power parity, Bucharest had a per-capita GDP of €26,100, or 111% that of the European Union average and more than twice the Romanian average. The city's strong economic growth has revitalised infrastructure and led to the development of many shopping malls and modern residential towers and high-rise office buildings. In September 2005, Bucharest had an unemployment rate of 2.6%, significantly lower than the national unemployment rate of 5.7%.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tourism in Luxembourg</span>

Tourism is an important component of the national economy of Luxembourg, representing about 8.3% of GDP in 2009 and employing some 25,000 people or 11.7% of the working population. Despite the 2008–2012 global recession, the Grand Duchy still welcomes over 900,000 visitors a year who spend an average of 2.5 nights in hotels, hostels or on camping sites. Business travel is flourishing representing 44% of overnight stays in the country and 60% in the capital, up 11% and 25% between 2009 and 2010. Published by the World Economic Forum in March 2011, the Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report puts Luxembourg in 15th place worldwide, up from 23rd place in 2009.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Livat Hammersmith</span> Shopping mall in London, England

Livat Hammersmith, formerly known as the Kings Mall, is a retail, residential and office complex located off King Street in Hammersmith in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. Along with the other Livat Centres, it is operated by the Ingka Centres division of INGKA Holding.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jean Monnet 2 building</span> Office complex in Luxembourg

The Jean Monnet 2 building is a future office complex for the European Commission under construction on Boulevard Konrad Adenauer in the European district of the Luxembourg City quarter of Kirchberg, Luxembourg. The complex is to be composed of a welcome pavilion and two office buildings to be completed in two phases respectively; an 8-storey 180 metre (m) long block and a 24-storey tower, connected at the basement and second storey levels. The first phase was expected to be completed by late February 2023, and the second phase by late February 2024. This timetable has been pushed back due to the global COVID-19 pandemic. The first Jean Monnet building, opened in 1975, was demolished between 2016 and 2019, after exceeding its lifespan, and following the discovery of airborne traces of asbestos. The construction site combines some of the plot of the previous building with an adjacent former open air car park. Upon completion, the Jean Monnet 2 building will enable the European Commission to consolidate the majority of its Luxembourg-based staff on one site. Like its predecessor, the building's namesake is European Union (EU) founding father Jean Monnet.

The Euroforum building is an office complex used by the European Commission in Cloche d'Or, Gasperich, Luxembourg City, Luxembourg. It hosts, amongst other European Commission departments, the Euratom Supply Agency.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Palais de la Cour de Justice</span> Building complex acting as the seat of the Court of Justice of the European Union

The Palais de la Cour de Justice is a building complex acting as the seat of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), located in the European district of the Luxembourg City quarter of Kirchberg. Today the Palais complex encompasses the original 1973 building, now known as the Ancien Palais, which houses the court rooms of the CJEU's Court of Justice, the Anneau building, encircling the Ancien Palais, which contains the judges chambers and deliberative rooms, the three tower buildings containing the CJEU's translation services, and the Gallery building, containing the CJEU's legal library and linking all the structures of the Palais complex with the renovated three annexes originally constructed between 1978 and 1994 that now host the court rooms of the CJEU's General Court.

References

  1. 1 2 "Forum Kirchberg". www.kup-ing.de (in German). Retrieved 23 February 2020.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Joseph Bech Building in Luxembourg | CFB-FONDS 150 (Report) (in German). CommerzLeasing und Immobilien Gruppe. Retrieved 15 February 2020.
  3. ↑ "Elektrotechnik: Stadtteilzentrum Kirchberg, Luxemburg, 1993". www.elcon-led.com (in German). Retrieved 23 February 2020.
  4. ↑ Nerb, Philip (23 December 2004). "CFB Luxemburg 150". Werte Analysen Geldanlagen (in German). Retrieved 23 February 2020.
  5. ↑ "History - Residence Concept". www.residence-concept.lu. Retrieved 23 February 2020.
  6. ↑ Seidel, Michael (13 May 2009). Tensile Surface Structures: A Practical Guide to Cable and Membrane Construction. John Wiley & Sons. pp. 210–. ISBN   978-3-433-60027-6.
  7. ↑ Dubina, Dan; Ungureanu, Viorel (17 August 2006). Steel - A New and Traditional Material for Building: Proceedings of the International Conference in Metal Structures 2006, 20-22 September 2006, Poiana Brasov, Romania. CRC Press. pp. 554–. ISBN   978-0-415-40817-2 . Retrieved 15 February 2020.
  8. ↑ "Auchan - Extension des galeries commerciales à Luxembourg Kirchberg" [Auchan - Extension to the shopping gallery in Luxembourg Kirchberg]. CBL Luxembourg (in French). 3 April 2008. Archived from the original on 29 March 2020. Retrieved 15 February 2020.
  9. 1 2 3 Pellet, Michel (26 November 1996). "Auchan s'implante à Luxembourg" [Auchan sets up in Luxembourg]. Les Echos (in French). Retrieved 15 February 2020.
  10. ↑ "About Us Kirchberg Shopping Center". kirchberg-shopping.lu. Retrieved 29 March 2020.
  11. ↑ Coubray, Céline (5 December 2018). "168 millions pour le JBBK" [168 million for the JBBK]. Archiduc (in French). Retrieved 23 February 2020.
  12. ↑ "Commerz Real fund sells Eurostat headquarters in Luxembourg" (Press release). Commerz Real. 30 November 2018. Retrieved 23 February 2020.
  13. ↑ "Response to a Written Question - Joseph Bech building in Luxembourg - E-2910/2005". www.europarl.europa.eu (in French). 7 November 2005. Retrieved 23 February 2020.
  14. 1 2 Hansen, Josée (18 December 2003). "The negotiator". Lëtzebuerger Land (in French). Retrieved 23 February 2020.
  15. ↑ Management Plan 2019 (PDF) (Report). Office for Infrastructure and Logistics in Luxembourg, European Commission. 19 December 2018. Ares(2018)6565888. Retrieved 28 January 2020.
  16. ↑ Seidel, Michael (8 September 2008). Textile Hüllen: Bauen mit biegeweichen Tragelementen [Textile covers: building with flexible supporting elements]. John Wiley & Sons. pp. 218–. ISBN   978-3-433-60021-4.
  17. ↑ Stimpfle, Bernd (2016). "Membrane Structures" (PDF). In Zanelli, Alessandra; Spinelli, Luigi; Monticelli, Carol; Pedrali, Paolo (eds.). Lightweight Landscape: Enhancing Design through Minimal Mass Structures. Springer. pp. 61–69. ISBN   978-3-319-21665-2.
  18. ↑ "Faillite du Club Monnet: précisions de Club House Kirchberg SA" [Bankruptcy of the Club Monnet: details of the Club House Kirchberg SA]. paperjam.lu (in French). 12 December 2002. Retrieved 29 March 2020.
  19. ↑ "Rénovation du bâtiment KUBIK" [Renovation of the KUBIK building]. www.sgigroupe.com. Archived from the original on 29 March 2020. Retrieved 24 February 2020.
  20. ↑ Pre-Qualification Document: Provision of security and other related services (PDF) (Report). European Stability Mechanism. 9 January 2020. p. 9. FM/13/SS/RYH/19. Retrieved 24 February 2020.
  21. ↑ "How to find us - Eurostat". ec.europa.eu. Retrieved 23 February 2020.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.