European Court of Human Rights
The form of the building, dictated by the sweep of the river Ill, and the work of landscape architect Dan Kiley has resulted in a scheme where building and landscape interact seamlessly.
The European Court of Human Rights is a key building in the history of the Richard Rogers Partnership (RRP, now Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners, RSH+P) and one of the few landmarks which provide a credible architectural image for the new Europe.
The site is located some way from the historic centre of the city but close to the river. The design creates a symbolic landmark but not a monument: the nature of the Court’s business implies that its premises should be anything but intimidating or fortress-like. Rather it should be welcoming and humane, while preserving an appropriate dignity. Protecting and enhancing the quality of the site was a prime objective, along with economy of operation and a ‘natural’ environment.
The basic diagram of the scheme was tested to its limits during the design process. The collapse of the communist bloc greatly increased the European ‘family’: the building’s office provision had to grow by some 50 per cent and the public spaces by 25 per cent.
The two main departments of the European Court, the Court itself and the Commission, occupy two circular chambers, clad in stainless steel, at the head of the building, while secondary structural elements are picked out in bright red. The entrance hall is light-filled, and has fine views out over the river. The ‘tail’ of the building is divided into two parts and contains offices, administration and the judge’s chambers. Functions are clearly legible. Only the main public spaces, focusing on a stone-paved rotunda, are air-conditioned (using an economical heat-exchange system). The remainder of the building relies on natural ventilation and light with opening windows.
Façades provide for a high degree of planting: well established greenery spills down from the roofs. The building is a powerful and highly rational expression of the function it serves but is imbued too with a Mendelsohnian streak of romantic expressionism.
Project information:
- Place/Date: Strasbourg , France 1989 - 1995
- Client: Conseil de l’Europe
- Cost: £35 million
- Area: 300,000 m²
- Cost/m²: £117
- Architect: Richard Rogers Partnership
- Structural Engineer: Ove Arup & Partners/Omnium Technique Européen
- Services Engineer: Ove Arup & Partners/Omnium Technique Européen
- Quantity Surveyor: Thorne Wheatley Associates
- Main Contractor: Campenon Bernard SGE
- Lighting Consultant: Lighting Design Partnership
- Landscape Architect: David Jarvis Associates/Dan Kiley
- Co-Architect: Atelier d’Architecture Claude Bucher
- Acoustic Consultant: Sound Research Laboratories
--RSHP
Featured articles and news
Introducing or next Guest Editor Arun Baybars
Practising architect and design panel review member.
Quick summary by size, shape, test, material, use or bonding.
Types of rapidly renewable content
From forestry to agricultural crops and their by-products.
Terraced houses and the public realm
The discernible difference between the public realm of detached housing and of terraced housing.
Put digitalisation and sustainability at the core of curricula
Project management educators are urged.
Looking back at the influence of climate events
From a designer and writer: 'There are limits to growth but no limits to development'.
Terms, histories, theories and practice.
Biophilic design and natural light
Letting in the light and natural elements into spaces.
APM Programme Management Conference 2024
Strategies for Success.
Residential takes the reins as contract awards even out
Contracts down, but remain above the last quarter of 2023.
Celebrating Eid and the largest mud-brick building.
Barry Kingscote claims prestigious CIOB CMYA Award.
The British Mosque: an architectural and social history
The story of some 1,500 mosques or more in Britain.
Heat pump refrigerants, efficiencies and impacts
R12 to R1270 what are the differences?
Global heat pump market in 2023
Challenging times with positive but modest outlook.
Beyond the infrastructure pipeline
Opportunities and chokepoints.