Madou Plaza Tower | |
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General information | |
Status | Completed |
Type | Office building |
Location | Brussels, Belgium |
Coordinates | 50°50′58″N4°22′12″E / 50.84944°N 4.37000°E |
Completed | 1965 |
Owner | European Commission |
Height |
|
Technical details | |
Floor count | 33 |
Floor area | 40,000 m2 (430,000 sq ft) |
Design and construction | |
Architect(s) | Robert Goffaux |
Main contractor | Herpain Entreprise s.a. |
Awards and prizes | MIPIM 2006 (refurbished office buildings) |
The Madou Plaza Tower (French : Tour Madou Plaza; Dutch : Madou Plazatoren) is a skyscraper in Brussels, Belgium. It was built in 1965, renovated between 2002 and 2006, and taken over by the European Commission. It is located on the Small Ring (Brussels' inner ring road) in the municipality of Saint-Josse-ten-Noode, at 1, place Madou/Madouplein. It hosts the Commission's Directorate-General for Competition.
The 33-storey core of the Madou Plaza Tower was built in just over a month and has been compared as a smaller version of the MetLife Building in New York City. There is a high voltage transformer in the basement for power, along with a 1360 kW emergency generator added during renovation. Two lifts connect to the parking garage.
During the 2002–2006 renovation, the building's height was increased from 112 metres (367 ft) to 120 metres (390 ft) and office space was increased by 10,000 m2 (110,000 sq ft) to 40,000 m2 (430,000 sq ft), requiring the building to be reshaped and strengthened. The renovation won the MIPIM Award 2006 in the 'Refurbished Office Buildings' category.
The European Commission bought the building on 13 March 2006, inaugurating it on 19 April when its 1,500 employees moved in. Based in Madou, as of 2007, were the Directorates-General for Communication, Informatics, and Education and Culture and the Executive Agency for Competitiveness and Innovation. Staff were previously based on the Axa building on the Robert Schuman Roundabout, which was to be demolished. Since late 2012, it has hosted the Directorate-General for Competition.
Saint-Josse-ten-Noode or Sint-Joost-ten-Node, often simply called Saint-Josse in French or Sint-Joost in Dutch, is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the north-eastern part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels and Schaerbeek.
The South Tower is a 38-storey, 148 metres (486 ft) skyscraper constructed between 1962 and 1967 in Brussels, Belgium. The tower is the tallest building in Belgium, and was the tallest in the European Economic Community (EEC) when it was built, until it was surpassed by Tour Montparnasse in Paris in 1972.
Jean-Baptiste Madou was a Belgian painter and lithographer.
The Justus Lipsius building, located in the European Quarter of Brussels, Belgium, was the headquarters of the Council of the European Union from 1995, and the de facto home of the European Council from 2002, until their relocation to the adjacent newly constructed Europa building at the beginning of 2017.
Brussels (Belgium) is considered the de facto capital of the European Union, having a long history of hosting a number of principal EU institutions within its European Quarter. The EU has no official capital but Brussels hosts the official seats of the European Commission, Council of the European Union, and European Council, as well as a seat of the European Parliament. In 2013, this presence generated about €250 million and 121,000 jobs. The main rationale for Brussels being chosen as "capital of the European Union" was its halfway location between France, Germany and the United Kingdom, the three countries whose rivalry played a role in starting the two World Wars and whose reconciliation paved the way for European integration.
The Charlemagne building is a high-rise in the European Quarter of Brussels, Belgium, which houses the Directorate-General for Economic and Financial Affairs, the Directorate-General for Trade, and since 2015, the Internal Audit Service of the Commission. It is named after Holy Roman Emperor Charlemagne.
The Résidence de la Cambre is the first high-rise building constructed in Brussels, Belgium. It was built in 1938–39, according to the plans of the architect Marcel Peeters, in a style inspired by New York Art Deco architecture. The 17-story residential tower was listed as a protected monument on 14 July 2005.
Madou may refer to:
Brussels-North railway station is one of the three major railway stations in Brussels, Belgium; the other two are Brussels-Central and Brussels-South. Every regular domestic and international train passing there has a planned stop. The station has 200,000 passengers per week, mainly commuters, making it one of the busiest in Belgium.
Madou is a Brussels Metro station on the northern segment of lines 2 and 6. It is located under the Small Ring at the Place Madou/Madouplein, next to Madou Plaza Tower, in the municipality of the Saint-Josse-ten-Noode, north of the City of Brussels, Belgium. The station takes its name from that aboveground square, itself named after the painter and lithographer Jean-Baptiste Madou.
The Convent Van Maerlant is a former convent which consists of a church and the Chapel of the Resurrection on the Rue Van Maerlant/Van Maerlantstraat in Brussels, Belgium. It is named after Jacob van Maerlant, a famous medieval Flemish poet.
The Breydel building is an office block in the European Quarter of Brussels, Belgium, which served as a temporary headquarters for the European Commission between 1991 and 2004. It is named after Jan Breydel, a legendary Flemish leader known from the Battle of the Golden Spurs.
The Northern Quarter is the central business district of Brussels, Belgium. Like La Défense in Paris, the Docklands in London or the Zuidas in Amsterdam, the Northern Quarter consists of a concentrated collection of high-rise buildings where many Belgian and multinational companies have their headquarters.
The Astro Tower is a skyscraper in Brussels, Belgium. It is located on the north-eastern corner of the Small Ring in the municipality of Saint-Josse-ten-Noode, just north of the Madou Plaza Tower. The Astro Tower is 107 metres (351 ft) tall, making it one of the tallest buildings in Belgium.
The North Galaxy Towers are twin 28-storey skyscrapers on the Boulevard du roi Albert II/Koning Albert II-laan in the Northern Quarter central business district of Brussels, Belgium. There is a third building in the complex which is 6 storeys tall. The first two floors are shared by all three buildings.
The N2 road in Belgium is a road connecting Brussels and Maastricht passing Leuven, Diest and Hasselt. It starts in Brussels at the Madou crossroad on the small ring, heading northeast as the Chaussée de Louvain/Leuvensesteenweg, which crosses the municipalities of Saint-Josse-ten-Noode, City of Brussels, Schaerbeek, Evere and Woluwe-Saint-Lambert in Brussels, and then enter Flanders via the municipality of Zaventem, Flemish Brabant.
Saint-Josse-ten-Noode Cemetery is a cemetery belonging to Saint-Josse-ten-Noode in Brussels, Belgium, where the municipality's inhabitants have the right to be buried. It is not located in Saint-Josse itself, but in the neighbouring municipality of Schaerbeek.
Gédéon-Nicolas-Joseph Bordiau was a Belgian architect, active in the second half of the nineteenth century. His work includes the plans for the Cinquantenaire exhibition parc and buildings, the project for the North-Eastern Quarter, Hotel Metropole and other notable buildings in Brussels.
The Place Charles Rogier or Karel Rogierplein (Dutch), usually shortened to the Place Rogier, or Rogier by locals, is a major square in the Saint-Josse-ten-Noode municipality of Brussels, Belgium. It is named in honour of Charles Rogier, a former Prime Minister of Belgium who played a great political role during the Belgian Revolution of 1830.
The Boulevard du Jardin botanique or Kruidtuinlaan, meaning "Botanical Garden Boulevard", is a boulevard in the Saint-Josse-ten-Noode municipality of Brussels, Belgium. It runs from the Boulevard Émile Jacqmain/Émile Jacqmainlaan to the Rue Royale/Koningsstraat, as part of the northern section of the Small Ring.