Description
Type
|
Public building
|
Project
|
New building
|
Execution
|
1994-1999
|
Project amount
|
423.000.000 €
|
Architect
|
Architecture Studio/Paris
|
Owner
/ Investor
|
Société d´Aménagement et d´Equipement de la Région de Strasbourg
|
Strasbourg – Seat of the European Parliament
The futuristic-looking glass palace of the European Parliament has been rising on the bank of the Ill and the Rhine-Marne Canal since 1998. In its plenary hall, the building named after the French mastermind Louise Weiss from the 1920s, 785 members of the Europen Union debate.
Built according to the plans of the Paris-based French architectural firm Architecture-Studio, the building consists of three bodies: the elliptical parliamentary wing, a circular tower and an agora, a centrally located meeting place in ancient Greece, located between these two units. According to the planners, the architecture is intended to illustrate a “system of open relations modelled on a unified democracy that is vibrantly evolving”.
The 60-metre-high tower made of glass and sandstone houses 1,133 offices on seventeen floors. The tower, which looks unfinished on its Eastern façade, symbolises Europe, which is constantly being built. The arched parliamentary wing with its glass façade houses the conference rooms. This building is structured around the internal streets, with the main street designed like a winter garden with a philodendron forest.
The centrepiece of the central arch is the “Dôme”, a wooden plenary hall where the members of parliament meet. The imposing glass façade extends over 13,000 square metres to the riverbanks and is intended to symbolise the democratic transperancy of the European Union. The MEPs meet here in the largest plenary hall in Europe.
In the centre of Europe
In the endless offices and meeting rooms, a complex heating and cooling system with Oventrop balancing and pipeline valves ensures a pleasant indoor climate.
Oventrop HydroControl VTR and VFC double regulating and commissioning valves were installed in the supply pipes of air conditioning units and realise the hydronic balancing of individual system sections.
A time-saving and convenient feature is that hydronic balancing is carried out by means of a reproducible presetting. The required presetting values are infinitely adjustable and can be read off directly. To check the flow rate, it can be determined using the OV-DMC 3 differential pressure measuring device. The measuring device is connected via the measuring valves pre-installed on the double regulating and commissioning valves. The double regulating and commissioning valves can be used in both in the supply and in the return pipe.