Federation of the Belgian Cement Industry (FEBELCEM) published a brochure (available in French and Dutch) that describes the design and construction of the public square in front of the Guillemins Railway Station in Liège, Belgium, designed by the famous architect Santiago Calatrava.
As the result of a global urbanistic vision, the Guillemins Esplande refurbishment fulfilled various requirements, and was completed in 2014. Architects designed the public square as a starting point for further urban developments, with the aim of upgrading the entire area. Seven different surface finishing methods were applied on the precast and in-situ cast elements in order to achieve an aesthetic ensemble, meeting the high-level performance and sustainability criteria. The project illustrates numerous aspects of the use of concrete for infrastructure works and public spaces. From a practical viewpoint, the square is a polyvalent and flexible space—a meeting place, but mainly a multimodal transport platform . . . meeting today’s efficiency and safety requirements. The square’s pavement is composed of a combination of 380 4m x 3m precast concrete slabs and cobblestones. The slabs are cast in two layers with an exposed aggregate concrete surface on top. Dark limestone aggregates are dominantly present on the surface in combination with white quartz. The infrastructure of the public square consists of a roundabout in continuously reinforced concrete (CRC) and a bus lane built with dowelled concrete slabs, both dark colored.
To download the brochure in French or Dutch, and to read more on the project, please go to: http://www.eupave.eu/documents/news-items/20151302-febelcempublication.xml?lang=en.