These last months there was a huge demolition site in the city center of Brussels.
All “Brusseleirs” are very much used to demolition of their beloved city… The history of the city is marked by some dramatical demolition of wonderful Art Nouveau buildings and beautiful “Maisons de Maître”, but this demolition was different: it was a party. It was the demolition of Parking 58, one of the most ugly buildings in town, built on the site of what used to be a beautiful market place.
And we wouldn’t be “gigs” urbansketchers if most of us didn’t rush there to document this event, with the beautiful machines, eating like dinosaures the concrete structure of the parking lot. We almost felt sorry for it. Almost… Not quite… 😉
Here are some of our drawings, made by Martine Rome, Myriam VG, Halewijn Geerts, Satu Burke, Samantha Pirard, Lisette Delooz, Nathalie Renotte, Geneviève Ghyoot, Sonia Vande Velde and Barbara Luel
Because Parking 58 is smack in the city center, and being demolished to make way for the City of Brussels’ administration, the site receives a lot if interest from the press and the general public. Works also goes on on Saturdays, which makes it possible for families to come and have a look; and the fish market, popular with tourists, is just round the corner. Sketching there, you can be sure to interact with many people! That’s how I met Monique, who remembers the construction of the parking 60 years ago, and before that, the department store that stood there. Before that still, she remembers sitting with her granddad under the grand metallic structure, and together they watched greyhounds races.
Nathalie Renotte
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