Institute of Chemistry and Metallurgy university building

Institute of Chemistry and Metallurgy university building 1930-1936
Rue Armand Stévart 2 - Architect Albert Puters

Albert Puters, professor of civil architecture, adopts a language of dazzling simplicity: over the entire length of the street (100m), the main body is deployed in twenty-five bays and three levels, and is punctuated in its center by the slight drop of the reception hall and marked at the top by a monumental clock. At the ends, two 75m return wings define the interior space, linked by buildings and giving the complex the shape of an E, the light of which widely floods the different branches.

Housing the analytical and industrial chemistry, electrochemistry, physicochemistry, metallurgy and steelmaking services, the building is resolutely functional: the engineer-architect provides for a clear separation of the zones according to their destination. The distribution of activities, the consideration of lighting, circulation and the fluid connections between the different zones combine to create a very efficient space, with a very readable plan for users, demonstrating a concern for harmony. , comfort and simplicity.
The large laboratories, 15m in free plan, are grouped at the ends of the side wings, while the auditoriums are
classrooms are in the main one.

Most of the spaces are perfectly modular, each floor constituting a huge platform once the partitions have been knocked down: this flexibility is obtained thanks to the structural metal frame, coated in reinforced concrete and driven into the ground by four hundred and twenty-six vertical and inclined Franki piles. Visible inside, the constructive system is masked on the facade by a cladding of purple bricks. The cut stone is used for the bases, the stair steps and the window sills, forming long lines which discreetly emphasize the horizontality of the whole.