Building on European architecture

Date: 03/04/1997

Anyone who has traipsed between the Breydel, the Justus Lipsius building and the Espace Leopold on a wet Tuesday in winter will applaud the initiative of Budget Commissioner Erkki Liikanen, who is promoting a competition in collaboration with the Belgian authorities to “improve the situation for pedestrians circulating in the European area”.

A landscape architect, Luc Schuiten, has already been asked to produce a study, but Liikanen's plan goes further: he wants a EU-wide architectural competition to “reconsider the links between European buildings” and “redefine the size and shape of buildings”.

Liikanen's initiative is bound to please the rest of the Commission. In a memo to his colleagues, he states: “There is clearly no question of the Commission contributing financially to the implementation of the results of the competition.” Clearly.