The City of Mons, looking to breathe life into its urban landscape by adding a convention center, enlisted the Jewish Museum architect Daniel Libeskind. The site is located near the 17th-century Belfry Tower, a UNESCO Heritage Site, so an opportunity to bridge the city’s heritage and ambitions was ripe for the taking. With a new train station by Santiago Calatrava also underway, the city’s architectural ambiance is promising.
Centre de Congrès à Mons is a 12,500 sqm tent for meetings. Equipped with a grand foyer, three state-of-the-art auditoriums, a multi-functional hall, seminar rooms, office spaces, a restaurant, underground parking, and a public roof terrace – the convention center is set to be the destination for international summits. Unlike most buildings by Libeskind that feature jagged forms depicting emotional turbulence, the centre comprises two sensuous curvilinear forms that intertwine to form a subdued modest building.
The material palette and execution took center stage in the façade design. The volume at the top is wrapped with curved champagne-anodized aluminum ribbon walls. It is this cladding plane that gains weightlessness and transparency to shoot free into the sky after collision with the volume that lies beneath it.
The aluminum contrasts slightly with the vertical slats of unfinished Robinia wood of the underlying form to provide the perfect material counterpoint. This earthy tone and rustic finishing make Centre de Congrès à Mons easy on the eye—a building that blends well with its surroundings.
We used simple, yet dramatic, design gestures, local materials and a flexible program for this modest gem of a building. We hope the new center brings a fresh dynamic to this area of revitalization in Mons – Daniel Libeskind
On street level, as the building rests on the ground, its northern edge repels upwards to reveal a glazed entrance held together by deep blue aluminum mullions. Maintaining the visual integrity of the ribbon-like forms was a key goal for the design team.
Thus, windows along the exterior edges are recessed and hidden from view by wooden slats that also help with sun shading. Still in the quest to create a unified object, straits of crisscrossing Belgian blue stone across the plaza run to meet the exterior walls made of the same material. These same lines are transverse inside and act as connective tissue – welcoming the outside.
Most convention centers require a grand entry space that can act as a breakout and interaction area. Here, the visitors will be treated to a double-volume lobby filled with natural light.
This is made possible by skylight slits that run on the edge of the curvilinear plane that blankets the foyer on the side.
The crisscross motif from the outer court is mimicked on the false ceiling, but this time, the lines are of warm, diffused lighting instead of Belgian blue stone. From this connecting space, a sculptural stairway leads to the 500, 200, and 100-seat auditoria, all fitted with Libeskind’s orange Poltrona Frau/Cassina Tangram seats.
Project Information
Architects: Studio Libeskind
Location: Mons, Belgium
Client: City of Mons
Architect of Record: H2A IR Architecte & Associes
Structural: Ney & Partners
Electrical: Putman
Mechanical: Energys
Acoustical: Venac
Sustainability: Neo & Ides
Collaborators: Semaco PM, Somec Group
Contractor: CIT Blaton/Galère
Area: 12 500 sqm
Status: Completed, 2015
Photographs: Georges de Kinder, Hufton + Crow, Studio Libeskind
