The European Commission is concerned both to be green and to be seen to be green (although the environmental analysis of the Berlaymont refurbishment design to date, by ECD's Brussels office, has yet to be published). The designers of SA Berlaymont 2000, due for completion in 2001, have responded with a low-energy design, sensitive in its choice of materials, attempting to be more publicly accessible and to encourage use of public transport. The existing building is not where you would choose to start. It has few fond memories for former occupants. Unwelcoming at ground level, disorienting in the windowless two-storey lobbies up the building, with ailing air-conditioning and lack of shared spaces, poorly sealed and a building that moved with temperature change. Basements are labyrinthine, with an existing 117,000m~2 above ground, 113,000m~2 below.
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