Located in a grim neighbourhood of grim office buildings, Zin offers a remarkable vision of the future.
This striking ecological building in the former World Trade Centre on Boulevard du Roi Albert II features plant-filled apartments, a hotel with a roof terrace and Flemish government offices.
But the most striking feature is the large greenhouseopen to everyone during the day. Filled with thousands of trees, plants and shrubs, the greenhouse serves as an indoor park in a neighbourhood dominated by office blocks.
The project was financed by the developers Befimmo, the group behind the Silversquare coworking offices in the capital. During the planning stage, Befimmo created a space in the building where local architects, universities, start-ups, artists and ecologists came together to shape the final design.
The first-floor lobby of the Flemish government building can be visited during office hours. Here you can sit with a coffee on a terrace looking down on the greenhouse. It feels a long way from the Brussels you know.
Derek Blyth’s hidden secret of the day: Derek Blyth is the author of the bestselling “The 500 Hidden Secrets of Belgium”. He picks out one of his favourite hidden secrets for The Brussels Times every day.
