The Rogier Tower (; ) is a

skyscraper A skyscraper is a tall continuously habitable building having multiple floors. Most modern sources define skyscrapers as being at least or in height, though there is no universally accepted definition, other than being very tall high-rise bui ...

located in the Northern Quarter

central business district A central business district (CBD) is the Commerce, commercial and business center of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides wit ...

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

, Belgium. It owes its name to the Place Charles Rogier/Karel Rogierplein on which it is situated. It is the fifth tallest building in Belgium. The tower was formerly known as the Dexia Tower (; ) after Dexia bank, but that bank failed due to the

2008 financial crisis The 2008 financial crisis, also known as the global financial crisis (GFC), was a major worldwide financial crisis centered in the United States. The causes of the 2008 crisis included excessive speculation on housing values by both homeowners ...

and the tower's name was changed in 2012. As Dexia moved its offices in Brussels to the Bastion Tower in

Ixelles (French language, French, ) or (Dutch language, Dutch, ) is one of the List of municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located to the south-east of Pentagon (Brussels), Brusse ...

, Belfius and its subsidiaries are the only occupants of this tower, and it is thus often also called the Belfius Tower (; ).

Description

The Rogier Tower was built on the site of the Rogier International Centre (, ), also called the Martini Tower, which was formerly the tallest building in Belgium, but was demolished in 2001. Constructed between 2002 and 2006, the Rogier Tower is tall. It was originally planned to be tall, but the proposal was rejected because the height was thought to be excessive. The Rogier Tower is one of the few towers in Brussels whose roof is not horizontal, instead being made up of three inclined sections. It is also one of the only towers in the world to have a fully glass roof.

Lighting

The building has 6,000 windows, and 4,200 of these are equipped with an average of 12 light bulbs, each having a red, green and blue

LED A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor device that emits light when current flows through it. Electrons in the semiconductor recombine with electron holes, releasing energy in the form of photons. The color of the light (corresp ...

, allowing a broad palette of colours to be formed. These are lit up to form colourful displays, with each window acting as a

pixel In digital imaging, a pixel (abbreviated px), pel, or picture element is the smallest addressable element in a Raster graphics, raster image, or the smallest addressable element in a dot matrix display device. In most digital display devices, p ...

. To minimise power consumption, the LEDs only illuminate the outside of the closed blinds, and the reflection off the blinds illuminates the window. Initially, the displays were just abstract patterns or the

temperature Temperature is a physical quantity that quantitatively expresses the attribute of hotness or coldness. Temperature is measurement, measured with a thermometer. It reflects the average kinetic energy of the vibrating and colliding atoms making ...

, but on special occasions and major holidays, customised displays were shown. Following the

late-2000s recession The Great Recession was a period of market decline in economies around the world that occurred from late 2007 to mid-2009.

, the lighting was greatly reduced, and the displays were on for only 10 minutes an hour. As from 2015, Belfius reactivated the lighting, especially for special occasions such as the Belgian Pride, the

Special Olympics Special Olympics is the world's largest sports organization for children and adults with intellectual disabilities, providing year-round training and activities to 5 million participants and Unified Sports partners in 172 countries. Special Ol ...

, the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

, Rode Neuzen Dag (Red Nose Day), Viva for Life or the Belgian National Day on 21 July. Belfius was involved in several of these occasions as sponsor or as co-organiser.

References

External links

* {{Tallest buildings and structures in Belgium Skyscraper office buildings in Brussels Saint-Josse-ten-Noode Office buildings completed in 2006

Description

Lighting

See also

References

External links