This is the product of a one year graduation project at the University of Technology Eindhoven. The graduation studio centralises three topics: architecture, justice and sustainability. The aim for my thesis was to design a supreme court building, located at the Poelaertplein in Brussels (see next page), that addresses all three topics.
Over the past two decades the concept of sustainability has gained a lot of attention
by many governments. This will also have
its consequences for the design of a new supreme court building, which is owned by the government. This adds an extra layer to the architectural performance of a building with such an important public function. My thesis will therefore challenge sustainability from three perspectives: a social, an architectural and an ecological perspective. The central research question of my thesis was:
A supreme court is the highest judicial power of a country. In a lawsuit, the supreme court is the last step where members of society can find their justice. This accentuates the importance of the societal identity of a supreme court.
