INNOVATION

Situated right in the centre of Brussels, between rue Neuve and Place des Martyrs, ever since the reconstruction following the fire in 1967, Innovation offered passers-by an image of a block of brutalist concrete architecture turned in on itself. Nowadays, after eight months of building work in 2004 which did not interrupt business, the building has a new sober, light façade made from glass, metal and stone, which opens out onto the city via a wide window three storeys high over the main entrance. The old shop ground floor has given way to high display windows. To emphasise the whole effect and provide a transition between the stone and the glazed display windows, a clear awning runs the length of the two façades. It also protects passers-by and the display windows from the rain and the sun. Inside, an atrium has been created around two escalator cores from the ground floor to the fourth floor.