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The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) launched an international architectural competition, in January 2001, for the design of its new Headquarters, in Brussels, Belgium, to meet the requirements of the Alliance in the 21st century.
The two stage competition, following a pre-selection made on reference files, was open to teams qualified to design such a project and to develop the detailed architectural and engineering plans, as well as to follow through the construction work. These teams had to be domiciled in one of the 19 NATO member countries.
(Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, Norway, The Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States).
In conformity with the regulations for international competitions, this competition received the approval of the International Union of Architects (UIA).
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| COMPETITION PROGRAMME |
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The new NATO headquarters must reflect the Alliances core functions and activities in the fields of assistance, consultation and formal and informal co-operation between NATO member nations as well as between the latter, partner countries, other countries and international organisations.
The 172 000 m2 building complex planned for in the programme included:
- A large conference centre, integral part of the extensive office buildings regrouping the services for the Delegations and Military Representations of the 19 member countries, Partner Missions as well as the main administrative services of the International Secretariat, the International Military Representations and Agencies.
- The HQ joint and technical infrastructures, including notably: information and press services, technical services, restaurants, cafeteria, shops as well as a staff centre with sports, social and leisure facilities.
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JURY
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Under the Presidency of His Excellency David Wright, (Canada), Ambassador, Dean of the North Atlantic Council, the jury was composed as follows:
Alessandro Minuto Rizzo, (Italy), Ambassador, NATO Deputy Secretary General
Jean Fournet (France), NATO Assistant Secretary General for Scientific and Environmental Affairs
Fumihiko Maki, architect (Japan), representing the UIA
Paul Chemetov, architect (France)
Patricia Patkau, architect (Canada)
Pierre Sauveur, architect (Belgium)
Rafael Vinoly, architect (USA)
Meinhard von Gerkan, architect-engineer (Germany)
Miroslav Masak, architect (Czech Republic), deputy jury member.
Twenty-one teams were selected on reference file from among the sixty-four candidates and invited to take part in the first stage of the competition, at the end of which the jury selected six projects that were admitted to the second stage of the competition.
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| FINAL DECISION |
| From amongst the five finalists projects submitted, the jury selected the winning project as well as the second and third prizes. They were submitted to the North Atlantic Council, which unanimously endorsed this choice. Following this decision, anonymity was lifted and the winners identified. The results were officially announced in Brussels on 23 January 2003, by the NATO Secretary General, Lord Robertson. |
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First Prize :
SOM + Assar: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, Inc., multinational consortium based in London under the direction of SOM with a Belgian associate, Assar (United Kingdom, United States, Belgium).
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Second Prize :
AAG-INT2-SHCA: Swanke Hayden Connell International, multinational consortium based in London (United Kingdom, Belgium, Italy).
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Third Prize :
Koetter, Kim Association, multinational consortium based in London (United Kingdom, United States).
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