Le Val Benoit & Mechanics Institute university building

Mechanics Institute UNIVERSITY BUILDING 1932-1939
Architect: Fernand Campus
Rue Ernest Solvay 21

Inaugurated after the first institutes, the building is a variant of its two neighbors, in particular that of civil engineering, whose plan it adopts: a square crossed by a diagonal, with entrances placed at the ends of the axis.

The framework here is entirely made of reinforced concrete. The brick facings echo those of the Institute of Chemistry, the bush hammered concrete of the thermoelectric power station. The convex glass roofs of the two entrance halls signify the originality of the building: the one inside the site is spectacular, at the junction of the wings, while, on the Solvay side, it is more discreet, sinking into the truncated corner of the angle of the square.

The institute houses the Departments of machine construction and technology, internal combustion and hydraulic engines, aeronautics and aerodynamics, metrology and meteorology.