Admittedly, the title is slightly misleading. Data centers are rarely built using actual bricks. Still, the new data center at LCL Brussels-North deliberately challenges expectations of what digital infrastructure is supposed to look like. Its facade invites attention. From the earliest design phase, the project combined technical requirements with an explicit architectural and artistic ambition.
The initial idea to place an art sculpture on the roof came from CEO Laurens van Reijen. Artist Luk Van Soom, together with designers René Pijnenburg and Béla Zsigmond, translated his vision into a strong visual narrative, supported by a facade designed to carry the sculpture. LCL’s Projects team then took on the challenge of turning that narrative into a buildable reality. Chief Projects Officer Floris Smits and Project Manager Pieter Van Haegenbergh explain how those worlds came together.
Turning a creative idea into an architectural reality asks for a different way of collaborating. Designers, architects, engineers, contractors, and study bureaus worked side by side. Sometimes outside their usual comfort zones. Every technical layer had to be absorbed into the design, while keeping the visual concept intact. “The real challenge lies in combining creative ideas with practical execution,” says Pieter. “The result is a design that truly stands on its own.”
“The real challenge lies in combining creative ideas with practical execution. The result is a design that truly stands on its own.”
For Floris, that tension is precisely what made the project interesting. “I’m a technical person,” he says. “What gives me satisfaction is taking something that exists as an idea and guiding it, step by step, into reality. There are many steps between imagining something and seeing it stand on site.”
In that sense, the new data center goes beyond architecture and infrastructure. It reflects how LCL delivers projects: by aligning different partners, questioning the obvious solutions, and refining the details until design, performance, and safety all click.
The tower on the north-east side of the building plays a key role in the overall composition. It is visible from the Brussels Ring, and almost functions as a vertical reference point for the entire site. The tower is not a neutral block. Its facade shows a drawing composed of lines and points, introducing structure and rhythm without forcing one single interpretation.
By day, the pattern appears subtle and graphic, shifting with the viewer’s perspective. As evening falls, over 400 light points reveal a different layer. “That ambiguity is intentional,” says Floris. “The design is not meant to be instantly readable. It leaves room for interpretation and invites you to look at it differently.”
“That ambiguity is intentional, the design is not meant to be instantly readable. It leaves room for interpretation and invites you to look at it differently.”
The drawing serves a forward-looking purpose as well. It invites a poetic reading of the unseen systems that shape our digital world, and hints at what is still to come. It sets the stage for the future rooftop artwork, which will carry the story upward. Once in place, all elements will come together, and the building will read as one coherent whole.
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