Cour de Justice Tower I

Luxembourg
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    Metrics
Height 107 m / 351 ft
Floors 24
Official Name
The current legal building name.

Cour de Justice Tower I

Other Names
Other names the building has commonly been known as, including former names, common informal names, local names, etc.

Court of Justice of the European Union Tower 1

Name of Complex
A complex is a group of buildings which are designed and built as pieces of a greater development.

Cour de Justice

Type
CTBUH collects data on two major types of tall structures: 'Buildings' and 'Telecommunications / Observation Towers.' A 'Building' is a structure where at least 50% of the height is occupied by usable floor area. A 'Telecommunications / Observation Tower' is a structure where less than 50% of the structure's height is occupied by usable floor area. Only 'Buildings' are eligible for the CTBUH 'Tallest Buildings' lists.

Building

Status
Completed
Architecturally Topped Out
Structurally Topped Out
Under Construction
Proposed
On Hold
Never Completed
Vision
Competition Entry
Canceled
Proposed Renovation
Under Renovation
Renovated
Under Demolition
Demolished

Completed

Completion

2008

Country
The CTBUH follows the United Nations's definition of Country, and thus uses the lists and codes established by that organization.

Luxembourg

City
The CTBUH follows the United Nations's definition of City, and thus uses the lists and codes established by that organization.

Luxembourg

Function
A single-function tall building is defined as one where 85% or more of its usable floor area is dedicated to a single usage. Thus a building with 90% office floor area would be said to be an "office" building, irrespective of other minor functions it may also contain.

A mixed-use tall building contains two or more functions (or uses), where each of the functions occupy a significant proportion of the tower's total space. Support areas such as car parks and mechanical plant space do not constitute mixed-use functions. Functions are denoted on CTBUH "Tallest Building" lists in descending order, e.g., "hotel/office" indicates hotel function above office function.

Office / Government

Structural Material
All-Steel
Both the main vertical/lateral structural elements and the floor spanning systems are constructed from steel. Note that a building of steel construction with a floor system of concrete planks or concrete slab on top of steel beams is still considered an “all-steel” structure as the concrete elements are not acting as the primary structure.

All-Concrete
Both the main vertical/lateral structural elements and the floor spanning systems are constructed from concrete which has been cast in place and utilizes steel reinforcement bars and/or steel reinforced concrete which has been precast as individual components and assembled together on-site.

All-Timber
Both the main vertical/lateral structural elements and the floor spanning systems are constructed from timber. An all-timber structure may include the use of localized non-timber connections between timber elements. Note that a building of timber construction with a floor system of concrete planks or concrete slab on top of timber beams is still considered an “all-timber” structure as the concrete elements are not acting as the primary structure.

Mixed-Structure
Utilizes distinct systems (e.g. all-steel, all-concrete, all-timber), one on top of the other. For example, a Steel Over Concrete indicates an all-steel structural system located on top of an all-concrete structural system, with the opposite true of Concrete Over Steel.

Composite
A combination of materials (e.g. steel, concrete, timber) are used together in the main structural elements. Examples include buildings which utilize: steel columns with a floor system of reinforced concrete beams; a steel frame system with a concrete core; concrete-encased steel columns; concrete-filled steel tubes; etc. Where known, the CTBUH database breaks out the materials used within a composite building’s primary structural elements.

All-Concrete

Height
Architectural
Height is measured from the level of the lowest, significant, open-air, pedestrian entrance to the architectural top of the building, including spires, but not including antennae, signage, flag poles or other functional-technical equipment. This measurement is the most widely utilized and is employed to define the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) rankings of the "World's Tallest Buildings."

107 m / 351 ft

To Tip
Height is measured from the level of the lowest, significant, open-air, pedestrian entrance to the highest point of the building, irrespective of material or function of the highest element (i.e., including antennae, flagpoles, signage and other functional-technical equipment).
107 m / 351 ft
Floors Above Ground
The number of floors above ground should include the ground floor level and be the number of main floors above ground, including any significant mezzanine floors and major mechanical plant floors. Mechanical mezzanines should not be included if they have a significantly smaller floor area than the major floors below. Similarly, mechanical penthouses or plant rooms protruding above the general roof area should not be counted. Note: CTBUH floor counts may differ from published accounts, as it is common in some regions of the world for certain floor levels not to be included (e.g., the level 4, 14, 24, etc. in Hong Kong).

24

# of Parking Spaces
Number of Parking Spaces refers to the total number of car parking spaces contained within a particular building.

700

Tower GFA
Tower GFA refers to the total gross floor area within the tower footprint, not including adjoining podiums, connected buildings or other towers within the development.

34,208 m² / 368,212 ft²

Rankings

#
2
Tallest in Luxembourg
#
2
Tallest in Luxembourg

Construction Schedule

1996

Proposed

2004

Construction Start

2008

Completed

Other Consultant

Other Consultant refers to other organizations which provided significant consultation services for a building project (e.g. wind consultants, environmental consultants, fire and life safety consultants, etc).

Wind
Material Supplier

Material Supplier refers to organizations which supplied significant systems/materials for a building project (e.g. elevator suppliers, facade suppliers, etc).

Façade Maintenance Equipment
Owner/Developer
Court of Justice of the European Union
Architect
Design

Usually involved in the front end design, with a "typical" condition being that of a leadership role through either Schematic Design or Design Development, and then a monitoring role through the CD and CA phases.

Dominique Perrault Architecture
Architect of Record

Usually takes on the balance of the architectural effort not executed by the "Design Architect," typically responsible for the construction documents, conforming to local codes, etc. May often be referred to as "Executive," "Associate," or "Local" Architect, however, for consistency CTBUH uses the term "Architect of Record" exclusively.

Bureau CJ4
MEP Engineer
Design

The Design Engineer is usually involved in the front end design, typically taking the leadership role in the Schematic Design and Design Development, and then a monitoring role through the CD and CA phases.

Jean Schmit Engineering SARL
Other Consultant

Other Consultant refers to other organizations which provided significant consultation services for a building project (e.g. wind consultants, environmental consultants, fire and life safety consultants, etc).

Wind
Material Supplier

Material Supplier refers to organizations which supplied significant systems/materials for a building project (e.g. elevator suppliers, facade suppliers, etc).

Façade Maintenance Equipment

CTBUH Awards & Distinctions

Best Tall Building, by Region, Europe 2009 Award of Excellence

2009 CTBUH Awards

 

Videos

16 September 2014 | Luxembourg

Blades of Steel: Understanding the Limits of Metal Façade Design

Metal claddings frequently skin our tall buildings. They provide the texture and shine that help distinguish one glass tower from the next. Like the fabric...

 

Global News

23 September 2019

Luxembourg Adds Third Tower to European Court Complex

The firm Dominique Perrault Architecture has just broken ground on the third tower of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), eleven years...

 

About Cour de Justice Tower I

The Court of Justice of the European Communities shelters the highest instances of jurisdictional power in Europe and the concept of time is very interesting in this project; the architectural plan has followed the evolution of Europe. The first building was built in the 1970’s by Jean-Paul Conzemius, but it quickly became too small and underwent three extensions inaugurated in 1988, 1993 and 1994, by the Luxembourg based architects Bohdan Paczowski and Paul Fritsch.

In 1996, Dominique Perrault’s team won the competition to build an extension to the Court and to treble its capacity. The brief entailed unifying and extending the existing set of buildings. On the seven-hectare site flanked by main roads, the existing successive interventions formed a disparate and scattered set, obeying to different scenographies and creating an architectural style clash.

Beyond federating and enlarging, Perrault’s task consisted foremost in reasserting the prestige of the Court complex, by focusing attention on it and diffusing its concentrated energy in a crown that extends, as if by levitation, the most significant levels of the original core. In the main Court building the architect articulates the main hearing rooms with a monumental stair. The laying out of a spacious and sober forecourt to the north creates a main access point for pedestrians and cars, via a large porch under the crown to the hearing rooms.

The two towers house the offices for the translation service. From the start, the architectural project envisaged the accommodation of the translation service in high-rise buildings, whose size and visibility reflect the importance of multilingualism in the very functioning of the Court, and signal its presence from near and afar.

The façades of the towers are comprised of four types of panels; (i) an opaque panel composed of a transparent glass layer and an opaque glass layer, with a golden metallic mesh between them, (ii) a filtering panel made by the same golden metallic mesh between two transparent glass layers, (iii) a complete transparent panel irremovable, and (iv) an opening transparent panel/window.

The golden metallic mesh is made by anodized aluminum so that there is no risk of corrosion. The façades will not deteriorate, nor will the color change over time, since the anodized aluminum is a material completely mass-colored by a chemical reaction. There is no possibility of altering the color or altering the
material itself. This metallic mesh will also filter and give a golden and soft light both outside and inside.

The façades of this project have a high environmental performance. With a thermal insulation, they are designed to provide solar protection and receive as much natural light as possible to reduce electricity expenses. The principal of a breathing façade enables the integration of blinds either removable (out of slats) or fixed (out of metal mesh) in order to filter the exterior light. All façades enable natural ventilation which can be individually regulated by office users. The roof of the ring-shaped building is covered with 2,300 square meters (24,760 sq ft) of photovoltaic panels with an installed load of 400 kW.

This latest built intervention of the Court must not be read as yet another graft onto the institution but rather as an “injection”, testifying to the primacy given to linkage over juxtaposition, and unification over densification. A unity that proceeds notably by the use of an anodized aluminum mesh, handled in “sun-fold” for the two towers.

CTBUH Awards & Distinctions

Best Tall Building, by Region, Europe 2009 Award of Excellence

2009 CTBUH Awards