The “Eurotopie” project will fill the Belgian Pavilion occupied by the Wallonia-Brussels Federation during the 16th Venice Biennale of Architecture, which will be held from 26 May to 25 November.
This project, which received 19 bids, is being undertaken by four young architectural graduates active in Wallonia and Brussels, Roxane Le Grelle (project coordinator with A+ Architecture in Belgium), Léone Drapeaud (architect), Manuel León Fanjul (member of the Bouwmeester de Charleroi team) and Johnny Leya (architect), who are members of a multi-discipline team with Sébastien Lacomblez (artist, scenographer), Philippe Braquenier (photographer), Bruce Bégout (author) and Nicolas Dehove (logistician).
The "Eurotopie" project will confront the major challenges and imperatives encountered by the European Union as it analyses its key territorial, physical, and symbolic presence in Brussels. The building will seek to create a great space for discussion, debate and commitment which appears to be lacking in the European sphere. A public space will be inserted in the building in the form of an amphitheatre, whose state-of-the-art design will always be a talking point. However, just like the sometimes painful entering into the European sphere, setting up the amphitheatre is of course coming into conflict with the building's existing spatial structure.
An initiative of the Architecture Division of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation in association with Wallonie-Bruxelles International.