The branch of the national bank of Belgium in Liège - a retrospective and prospective look at the singular project of the architectural office EGAU

Abstract

Starting with the Industrial Revolution, technical progress in architecture has brought new dimensions to traditional construction methods. By introducing new approaches to the aesthetic understanding of the built context, modern architecture has had a considerable effect. The philosophy of modern architecture is now the subject of many critics and the Machine Age has led architects to cultural detachment and a break with the sense of the place

The Liège branch of the National Bank of Belgium, located in Place Saint-Paul in the center of Liège, is in fact a modernist building from the 1960s, despite its "neo-classical" facade. The project was designed and conceived by the Liège architecture group EGAU, one of the main architects of the urban transformations of the center of Liège between 1950 and 1970.

The year 2018 marks a radical turning point in the history of the Liège banking institution: indeed, the bank is decommissioned, which offers a great opportunity for reconversion. This raises many questions for the people of Liège as to the future of the site, which remains emblematic in view of its urban location, occupying the entire area on one side of Place Saint-Paul. It is an opportunity to give these buildings a new chance to be renovated or reconverted in order to prevent the sad destiny of demolition or abandonment.