Offices and administrative buildings have become ultimate commodities of the real-estate market. The European Union’s administrative buildings are almost identical to commercial offices, despite representing a public and democratic institution. The EU has become post-political – with economic consensus prevailing over social or democratic intention – rendering it devoid of any civic ambition to contribute to the city.
In Brussels, the office typology has developed in its most agonizing form, since public institutions have no control over its premises – only driven by the opportunism of the market. Thus, the dissertation departs from an analysis of the alienating case of the European district in Brussels, challenging the failures and missed opportunities of privatised architecture and restrictive technocratic masterplanning. As an answer, the ‘interior’ appears as a meaningful instigator of truly civic space, and as a means to subvert these administrative buildings from within.
