COURT OF JUSTICE - Hasselt, Belgium

J. MAYER H. Project Team: Juergen Mayer H., Georg Schmidthals, Marcus Blum, Guvenc Ozel, Jan-Christoph Stockebrand
a2o-architecten, Hasselt
Luc Vanmuysen, Jo Berben, Tim Vekemans, Mannfred Benditz
Lensºass architecten, Hasselt
Bart Lens, Massimo Pignanelli, Philippe Dirix, Jan Achten

International Competition 2005 1st Prize
Project: 2005-2010
Completion: February 2011
Client: Stationsomgeving NV Hasselt

Phase 1: Redevelopment of the train station area in Hasselt based on the West8 master plan, including two iconic buildings and low rise blocks for hotels, offices and housing.
Phase 2: Court of Justice, Hasselt

Location : Monseigneur Broekxplein, 3500 Hasselt
Photographer: Flip Dujardin, filip.dujardin@pandora.be
Function : Courthouse including Offices
Site area : 3640 qm
Building area : 3200 qm
Total floor area : 21600 qm
Stories : 13
Structure : concrete and steel
Announcement date : February 2007

© j mayer h / a2o-architecten / Lensºass

The Court of Justice is one of two iconic projects within the new urban development around the main rail station. The logistics and siting of a courthouse with multiple security barriers of security results in a massing composed of three interconnected volumes. References include the old industrial steel structures that formerly occupied and definined the site, their organic Belgian Art Nouveau forms constituting part of the cultural heritage of Hasselt. There are also echoes of a tree, which, in addition to being is the Hasselt town emblem, as well as also harks back to the historicpre-medieval European tradition of holding a special “place of speaking justice” underneath a large tree in the center of a dwelling.