The famous Belgian chocolatier Jurgen Baert has designed a detailed chocolate replica of a wooden office building in Brussels for the so-called "real estate Oscars".
The building in the heart of the European Quarter, named Monteco, is the first high-rise erected in a wood frame in Brussels. The timber-framed office building has been selected for one of the coveted real estate Oscars at MIPIM, the international real estate fair in Cannes.
To mark the occasion – the nomination for a MIPIM award is a rare occurrence for Belgian developers – the property developers Nextensa and ION asked one of the top chocolatiers in the country to design a chocolate replica of the building.
100% made of milk and dark chocolate
This was a real challenge as Baert had to build all the details of Monteco entirely out of chocolate. "The facade of the building, for example, consists of dozens of intermediate posts," he noted.
"I cut these completely to size, placed each one very briefly on a heat plate, and then 'glued' them onto the building with the slightly melted chocolate. A work of bated breath."
Credit: Nextensa and ION
The unique work is 100% made of milk and dark chocolate. It weighs no less than 35 kilograms, is 75 centimetres high, 50 centimetres wide and is kept at temperature by a custom-made plinth with air conditioning. Baer, who has won several medals at the World Cup for chocolatiers in the past, spent no fewer than 45 hours on the unique chocolate design.
The structure will be cautiously transported to the famous Palais des Festivals on La Croisette in Cannes, where the Cannes Film Festival also takes place, to be exhibited at MIPIM on Monday 11 March.
"We decided to add extra strength to our nomination with a unique design in chocolate. Could it be more Belgian?" said Michel Van Geyte, CEO of Nextensa. Baert has also made 2,000 chocolate lollipops in the shape of Monteco.
