Belgian Beer World, Bourse Beurs, Brussels
The Belgian Beer World is entirely dedicated to Belgian beer culture. Within the old Stock Exchange nearby the Grand-Place, a wide range of cultural activities around the brewing industry are offered to both tourists and locals.
Information Sheet
Renovation/Transformation Belgian Beer World www.belgianbeerworld.be • Bourse Beurs www.boursebeurs.be
Location Brussels, Belgium.
Project Cost 25 million €.
Time Frame Design: 2015-2016. Construction: 2017-2023. Opening: September 2023.
Owner City of Brussels.
Architect(s) Robbrecht en Daem Architecten, Ghent www.robbrechtendaem.com • Bureau d'Études en Architectures urbaines (BEAU), Brussels www.beau.brussels • Popoff Architectes, Brussels popoffarchitectes.be
Seat Count The complex is built around the large hall of the former Stock Exchange. It includes a reception area, a Belgian beer experience centre, a restaurant, a brasserie, seminar rooms, a specialised beer shop, a panoramic terrace and the archaeological site Bruxella 1238s. Total area 11 318 m².
Uses Exhibitions and events around the brewing industry culture along with seminars and archaeological site activities.
Services Comprehensive acoustic consulting services including acoustic concept, design and New Build supervision. Noise and vibrations control, integration of acoustics materials especially in the nave. And integration, within the various zones of the building architecture, of personalised soundscaping design.
Team Émilie Carayol, Yann Jurkiewicz, Thomas Wulfrank, Kahle Acoustics.
The main facade, with its pediment and peristyle overlooking the main boulevards is a magnificent gateway to the “Unesco perimeter” of Brussels' Grand-Place. This monumental building, a neoclassical temple, has richly decorated facades in French stone and stands on a 3.5 m high closed plinth of Ecaussines bluestone. Photo © Sébastien Bez
The panoramic skyroof terrace of the Belgian Beer World as seen from rue de Tabora unveils an elegant metal lattice canopy, a tempietto of glass and steel, covering the back of the terrace and houses the entirely glazed skybar offering a panorama of Brussels' roofs. Photo © Sébastien Bez
View of the central Nave of the Bourse Beurs, completely restored and transformed into a public gallery, a close cousin of the Galeries royales Saint-Hubert. Valérie Mannaerts' work of art, or mosaic drawings of a three-dimensional nature, covers the entire floor, which includes four organic elements, executed in mosaic and using plant ornaments in the stucco of the ceiling. Most of the interior and exterior oak woodwork is still present and in a good state of conservation, and has been restored to its original appearance (either varnished or painted). Photo © Sébastien Bez
The central space of the nave is lined with historic rooms that now house new functions: a brasserie, a ticket office, a temporary exhibition room and a seminar room. The mezzanine floors in the transept, which are part of the Belgian Beer World exhibition on the upper floors, have been converted into “hanging gardens”, visible from the nave at the level of the Corinthian capitals of the ancient columns.Around this new “covered square”, the various “commercial” functions of the project are directly visible and/or accessible (Belgian Beer World reception and ticket office, temporary exhibition room, seminar rooms, restaurant, brasserie with its counter appearing between the porticoes and colonnades like the stalls of a market set up in a temple, access to the theme shop), restoring to the site all the friendly liveliness it once knew. Photo © Sébastien Bez
Architectural concrete in a colour similar to French stone, black granito and brass characterise this new entrance opposite Saint-Nicholas Church. The glass staircase takes visitors to the beginning of the Belgian Beer World tour, on the upper floors. Photo © Sébastien Bez
A detail of the black granite staircases adorned with brass, giving access to the different levels of the Bourse Beurs building. Photo © Sébastien Bez
The panoramic bar offers a breathtaking view of Brussels and features an elegant openwork metal marquee. Brussels has a great historical tradition of steel and glass architecture, to which the Bourse discreetly subscribes with this new addition. Photo © Sébastien Bez
The ironwork railings of the panoramic bar are freely inspired by the bronze antefixes that have disappeared, and together with the openwork canopy create a crown of contemporary, transparent lace on the rear of the monument, whose gilded materiality matches the gilding of the roofs and facades of the Grand-Place. Here, a detail of the panorama overlooking the spire of the Gothic Town Hall on the Grand-Place. Photo © Sébastien Bez
Stairs leading to the Bruxella 1238 archaeological site, the remains of a 13th-century Couvent des Récollets (covent) in the basement of Bourse Beurs. Photo © Sébastien Bez
The Bruxella 1238 archaeological site, the remains of the Couvent des Récollets built in the 13th century and partially buried beneath the Rue de la Bourse, has been completely renovated and will now be accessible via the Bourse basement. These circular windows are encircled by openwork brass railings inspired by the old baskets of the Bourse, the shelves of which are made of Belgian marble. Photo © Sébastien Bez
Axial plan of Bourse Beurs, a building containing a covered public gallery, a brasserie, a restaurant, a theme shop, a ticket office and exhibition and seminar rooms, a beer experience centre (Belgian Beer World), a panoramic bar on the roof and an archaeological site in the basement. © Bureau d'Études en Architectures urbaines, Popoff Architectes, Robbrecht en Daem Architecten