Hexagon: New cultural hub to open in Brussels city centre with 20-hour launch party

A new shared artistic space harbouring a concert venue, recording studio, auditorium and nightclub will open to the public in the heart of Brussels on 5 September.

Hexagon is a cultural hub temporarily occupying the former Dexia bank headquarters in Rue de Ligne before the site is reconverted into the capital’s new central police station.

The 5,000m2 space, hexagonal in shape, is “a place with a remarkable architectural identity and a strong social and artistic mission,” say organisers of the venue that previously housed the creative outfit Reset, operated by Arty Farty Brussels.

At an epoch when the arts are increasingly under financial pressure, they believe “culture is not a privilege, but a fundamental right” and are committed to creating “a place that embodies the fertile chaos and diversity of Brussels and transforms it into cultural fuel.”

Hexagon’s upcoming programme includes concerts, club nights, film screenings, talks, exhibitions and hybrid artistic formats. It prioritises local initiatives while seeking out international partners to enrich the cultural offer.

The hub also runs residency programmes to give artists the creative space to develop their projects ahead of their performances at the venue, as well as long-term support for people in precarious situations.

Launch party

For the 20-hour free opening party that lifts off on 5 September at 10.00, a market will sell second-hand clothes and records; the vinyl sellers also spinning discs to get the crowd in the mood for the entertainment that kicks off at 16.00 in the auditorium.

An exclusive Brussels line-up of solo artists will perform in the intimate setting, including cellist Frederik Daelmans, eclectic musician Vitja Pauwels and neo-soul and R&B musical artist STACE. Meanwhile, there’s craft activities all day for a younger audience.

Once night falls, the club hosts a programme featuring O’Simmie B2B Erykah, AK and Dirtydms that requires entrance tickets, priced €10 to €15.

Ambitious modernist architecture

It was on a triangular plot of land at the intersection of Rue de la Banque, Rue de la Montagne de l’Oratoire and Rue de Ligne that the directors of the Crédit Communal de Belgique (before becoming Dexia and now Belfius) decided to replace their old headquarters with a new larger building that reflected their postwar financial prowess.

The Brussels architect, Marcel Lambrichs, who designed a flight of large-scale administrative buildings in Belgium and the Congo, was commissioned for the prestigious project.

Constructed between 1963 and 1971, the unusual shape of the plot was the starting point for a design centred on triangles. When assembled in groups of six, they formed hexagons, which interlocked with one another and creating a central patio that infused light into each floor of the building. For the façade, the smoked glass panes were deliberately placed upside down and back to front to distort the surface and create irregular reflections.

Lambrichs was inspired by modernism and a location that was on the cusp of the city’s medieval past and functionalist future with its equal proximity to the Saint-Michel and Sainte-Gudula Cathedral and administrative headquarters in Boulevard Pacheo and Rue Royale. The architect fused these two influences in designing the modernist coppery glass facade on one side of the building and a neo-classical one in traditional blue stone on the other.

The building was later adorned by three Belgian artworks from the period, which echo this theme. If Jean-Michel Folon’s 1981 fresco La Ville magique was dismantled by the Folon Museum in 2017, the other two sculptures remain in place. Capteurs de Ciel by Pol Bury is located at the entrance of the building in Rue de Ligne, while Olivier Strebelle’s monumental Artifices d'Acier (pictured above) is installed in the patio, where it is visible from each floor.

It was in 2015 that the Dexia building was bought by the city of Brussels to house the new headquarters for the Bruxelles-Ixelles police zone.

Photos: (main image) ©Hexagon; Auditorium; Plateau; Seppe Claes Reset Club; Exterior with Capteurs de Ciel sculpture by Pol Bury; Artifices d'Acier by Olivier Strebelle