A Garden
A Garden proposes a transformation of the National Bank of Belgium by inserting a “garden” as a spatial mediator between institutional authority and everyday civic life. Responding to the post-2008 shift in public trust, the project reframes the bank’s image from imposing and distant to open, participatory, and communicative. Through an “intelligent ruins” approach—working with the existing structure as a framework—it aims to create a more equal dialogue among staff, citizens, and the institution itself.
Project 01 — A Garden
Transformation of the National Bank of Belgium / Intelligent Ruins
English
A Garden reimagines the National Bank of Belgium through “the garden” as a civic mediator. After the 2008 crisis, the bank’s authoritative architectural image can no longer guarantee public trust; the project proposes a shift from monumentality to an open communication platform that enables more equal interactions between staff, citizens, and the institution.
At the urban scale, it rebuilds pedestrian connectivity between the upper and lower city, positioning the garden as a public node along a restored civic axis. Architecturally, “Intelligent Ruins” preserves and exhibits demolition fragments while integrating office and public programs—vertical garden, inner public garden, and a City Green Hall—enhanced by increased visual transparency and public routes through the interior. Material strategies further reinforce the narrative through reuse and recycling, including terrazzo made with reclaimed demolition aggregates and landscape elements formed from recycled concrete slabs.