The integrated team led by Danish practice JDS Architects with French firm Coldefy, Amsterdam-based firm NL Architects, Italian practice Carlo Ratti Associati, Spanish firm Ensamble Studio, and together with Belgian company UTIL cvba and Danish engineering company Ramboll, has been announced as the winner of the international competition. 

The selected team to renew the European Parliament Building, known as the Paul-Henri SPAAK Building, in Brussels, Belgium. 

The international competition was announced in 2019 and sought a strong sustainable approach to renew its plenary building (SPAAK), which called for tenders for a new “renewal” process, covering all approaches between a "renovation" of the building, and a "reconstruction" of the building.

The open pre-qualification procedure for the selection of competitors among candidates was launched on 26 May 2020. The competition was endorsed by the International Union of Architects (UIA). 

The competition brief put a strong emphasis on "operability, maintainability, flexibility and adaptability”. The new European Parliament was envisaged as incorporating “best durability and sustainability practices with a considered balance between simplicity and thoughtful technology.”

Following the pre-qualification procedure considering 132 applications in total, the jury selected 15 candidates and invited to submit their design proposals, which included world-renowned firms Dominique Perrault Architecture, COBE, KAAN Architecten, OMA, Renzo Piano Building Workshop, Shigeru Ban Architects, Snøhetta.  

The Paul-Henri SPAAK Building is part of an estate of around ten buildings with a total area of some 665,000 square meters. The 84,000-square-metre building houses the Chamber of the European Parliament in Brussels for its 705 Members from all over the European Union and houses various facilities where Members meet in par-sessions, but also facilities for holding parliamentary committee meetings, organising press conferences and welcoming visitors.

The European Parliament has not yet released any images of the winning proposal. According to the announcement, there will be a public exhibition of the proposals in Brussels which is scheduled for September 2022.

The jury allocated following prizes:

• 1st prize: JDS Architects (Denmark)
  Coldefy (France) | NL Architects (Netherlands) | Carlo Ratti Associati (Italy) | ENSAMBLE STUDIO (Spain) |UTIL cvba (Belgium) | Ramboll (Denmark)
• 2nd prize: JABORNEGG & PALFFY Generalplaner ZT GmbH (Austria)
  KUEHN MALVEZZI (Germany) | AXIS Ingenieurleistungen ZT GmbH (Austria)
• 3rd prize: MOREAU KUSUNOKI (France)
  Dethier Architectures (Belgium) | sbp france (France) | ME Engineers Ltd (United Kingdom)
• 4th prize: BELVEDERE ARCHITECTURE (France)
  Ove Arup & Partners International Ltd (United Kingdom)
• 5th prize: A2M (Belgium)
  VK ENGINEERING (Belgium) | C.F. Møller Architects (Denmark)

Other  prequalified  participants (alphabetical order)

• Baumschlager Eberle Architekten (Liechtenstein)
  Bureau Bouwtechniek (Belgium) | Macobo-Stabo (Belgium)
• Cobe A/S (Denmark)
  Lundgaard & Tranberg Arkitekter A/S (Denamrk) | Steensen Varming (Denmark) | Tyréns AB (Sweden)
• Dominique Perrault Architecte (France)
  Ney & Partners - T6 S.à r.l. (Luxembourg) | Jean-Paul LAMOUREUX (France) | HL-PP Consult International Ingenieurgesellschaft mbH (Germany) | URBAN ECO SCOP (France) | DDS+ (Belgium) | Arcora (France) | Gaëlle Lauriot-Prévost (France) | SORANE SA (Switzerland)
• Helin & Co Architects (Finland)
  Sitowise Oy (Finland) | LPR-architects (Finland)
• KAAN Architecten (Netherlands)
  DGMR Bouw B.V. (Netherlands) | SVR-ARCHITECTS nv (Belgium) | Werner Sobek Frankfurt (Germany)
• Neutelings Riedijk Architecten B.V. (Netherlands)
  NEY & Partners WOW bvba (Belgium) | BSEG (Belgium)
• Office for Metropolitan Architecture (O.M.A.) Stedebouw B.V. (Netherlands)
  studiebureau r. boydens nv (Belgium) | Ney & Partners BXL nv (Belgium)
• Renzo Piano Building Workshop (France)
  Happold Ingenieurbüro GmbH (Germany)
• Shigeru Ban Architects (Japan)
  Jean de Gastines Architectes (France) | Ove Arup and Partners Japan Ltd (Japan)
• Snøhetta Oslo AS (Norway)
  HL-Beratungs-u. Beteiligungs Gmbh (Germany) | BURO II & ARCHI+I (Belgium) | Bollinger + Grohmann Ingeniører AS (Norway) | SuReal (Belgium)

General jurors composed of: Rainer Wieland, Vice-President of the European Parliament, Pedro Silva Pereira, Vice-President of the European Parliament, Rudy Vervoort, Minister-President of the Brussels-Capital Region, Bety Waknine, Head of the Brussels Planning and Heritage Regional Public Service.

Architectural jurors composed of: Prof. Marilyne Andersen, Physicist and Environmental specialist, Lausanne, Switzerland, Kristiaan Borret, Urban planner, Government Architect of the Brussels-Capital Region, Manuelle Gautrand, Architect, Paris, France, Dorte Mandrup, Architect, Copenhagen, Denmark (UIA representative), Carme Pigem, Architect, Olot, Spain, Kazuyo Sejima, Architect, Tokyo, Japan, Dimitri Tenezakis, Architect, Head of Luxembourg and Strasbourg Major Construction Projects Unit – DG INLO – European Parliament.

The five winners among the submitted design concepts, will get the following prizes, excluding VAT: 1st prize: EUR 120,000, 2nd prize: EUR 100,000, 3rd prize: EUR 80,000, 4th prize: EUR 60,000, 5th prize: EUR 40,000.

Top image: The Paul-Henri SPAAK Building is the European Parliament plenary building in Brussels, Belgium. Image © European Union.

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