Rather than losing its identity entirely or keeping it intact, this project preserves Joseph Poelaert’s Brussels Courthouse (1883) modernizing it at the same time; regenerating the building and the character of the district and city.

The current scaffolding, placed in the mid-eighties, needs complete renovation together with the facade. It does not serve its practical purpose; rather it is damaging it more. We propose a detached contiguous scaffolding structure that would enable the needed process of preservation, while dramatically changing its form and meaning.

‘This is not a Scaffolding’, but rather an art membrane wrapping the massive building with ‘lightness’, - a semi-transparent fabric abstracting its eclectic-neoclassical style.
Conceived as an economic and needed temporary structure, it would also be used as a screen for projecting films and spectacles, and for enclosing cultural events within the new exterior ‘courtyards.’. Therein, the Brussels Scaffolding may become part of the new collective memory, ultimately becoming permanent.

Type: International Competition - Selected for exhibition
Client: Belgian Buildings Agency
Size: 32,000 - 33,000 m2 screen
Program: Preservation Scaffolding, Cultural areas, Interior exhibitions, Film projection