Today, the Courthouse in Brussels doesn’t live up to present-day’s safety and functionality demands. It suffers from different problems (stability issues, fire protection, evacuation, lifts, etc.) which aren’t easy to solve. On top of which it has to be taken into account that the palace of justice is protected as national heritage.

A strong vision is thus needed to modernize the Courthouse and at the same time preserve it as part of our national heritage.

That’s why the Belgian Federal government has decided to examine all possible scenarios resulting from the consequences of a partial or total removal of departments which are now housed in the Courthouse but which require a higher level of security.

The contest is launched during Belgium’s Presidency of the European Union.

The purpose of this contest is not to submit a finalized urban planning or architectural project but to imagine the future allocation – whether judicial or not – of the Brussels Courthouse and of the surroundings of Place Poelaert.

The Belgian Buildings Agency, a Federal administration that manages Federal public buildings, together with the Justice department organizes this international ideas contest entitled “Brussels Courthouse, imagine the future!”.

The contest is meant for professionals from all countries, either active in the field of architecture, urban planning and Justice or engineers, market development engineers, artists, … as well as schools active in these fields.

Participants must register for the contest on this website by filling in the online application form.

Applications can be filled in until 15 October 2010.

A visit to the Courthouse is not planned. However the section of the building accessible to the public can be visited every working day, from 08:00 AM till 04:00 PM.

Projects must be submitted before 16 November 2010 at 02:00 PM (GMT+1).

Projects must be submitted to the following address:
Regie des Bâtiments
Mr. Jean-Marc Helson
Avenue de la Toison d'Or 87 boîte 2
B-1060 Brussels
Belgium

Only the projects complying with the rules will be accepted and will be assessed by a jury. Projects will be assessed according to the following criteria: the relevance of the answers developed in the project to the problem, the feasibility of the idea, the novelty of the idea, the quality of the project presentation and the quality of integration in the environment of the Poelaert site, either by contrast or by analogy.

The composition of the jury, from various backgrounds, is determined in the chapter jury on this website.