This is a major renovation of a historic residential building in a district known as the “European Quarter” in the centre of Brussels, Belgium. The outer cubic envelope of the building contains a variable section multi-level internal volume that houses the meeting and conference rooms and is called The Lantern (or Space Egg).

We were involved in this project to design all the covers of the Lantern: from the outer glass skin to the positioning and sizing of the steel substructure.

Since, as it rises, the elliptical base becomes cylindrical, there are countless variations in curvature on the façade. Each glass pane follows a specific optimisation achieved thanks to our study of the surface: more than 1700 different glass panes were made to measure, designed and machined by our automation processes, covering more than 6000 square metres.

We also designed the bracket system to support the glass, based on the 3D survey of the steel structure behind it carried out on site.