More than 25 years ago, the King Baudouin Stadium was given a thorough makeover: the entrance and the main stand of the national football stadium were given a new look. A renovation that immediately made headlines in the media. Because this was the first project in Belgium with glued bricks from Nelissen Steenfabrieken. Antwerp resident bOb Van Reeth, the first Flemish Master Builder, stood at the cradle of the renovated stadium: 'Gluing bricks has become very successful since then. And I'm still very happy with the result. Because you're looking at a work of art in one piece. And that gives you an accurate picture of what a brick should be. It comes into its own.'
So, the glued Nelissen brick received its baptism of fire in the football temple where the Red Devils shine today. bOb Van Reeth remembers the strange sensation when he first arrived at the site: 'Normally, a bricklayer has a brick in one hand and a trowel in the other. But now, they stood there squirting dollops with a glue pump like a baker decorating a cake with a piping bag full of whipped cream. It took them a few metres to master the technique. But after that, it was easy.'
An innovation with a unique appearance
'Gluing bricks has three advantages', says Van Reeth. 'You may need more bricks, but the construction process is much faster. The joints are much smaller. And these minimalist joints are barely visible from a distance. This gives you a continuous appearance. And finally, the bricks no longer let any water through. The combination of these advantages naturally attracted attention.'
Brick-and-mortar tourism
'The advanced technology caught on with architects', recalls Van Reeth. 'As soon as the work was finished, buses full of architects came to admire the outcome of the glued bricks. They were amazed and immediately realised that they had a new tool to make their designs more creative. You still often come across the technique a quarter of a century later.'
Tight deadline boosts adrenaline
The awarding of the project gave Van Reeth a few anxious moments: 'I was given one week for the design. That is frustrating, but at the same time it gave me an adrenaline boost. Which was helpful because I was in competition with a second architect. The project presentation to the city of Brussels was just as strange: we had to hand over the design without being able to explain it. But on the way back, I got the liberating phone call in the car (laugh).'
Simplicity creates added value
According to the Austrian philosopher Wittgenstein, an architect should design to glorify and amaze. Van Reeth is happy to go with that idea: 'Nelissen's spanish red immediately appealed. Even though the colour is not a deliberate allusion to the Red Devils, it does give the stadium a certain charisma. The simplicity in the concept symbolises concentrated complexity. If you look closely at the seemingly banal appearance, you can see that the façade forms a whole.'
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