Kanal #1

Description

In November 2026, the new Kanal museum of modern and contemporary art, architecture, and landscape architecture will open in Brussels. Operated in partnership with the Centre Pompidou, it will be one of Europes largest cultural venues, with space for up to 10 exhibitions at a time over 49,000 m2 of floor space. The building itself is one of Kanals main attractions: the converted former headquarters of French car manufacturer Citrons Belgian branch with its landmark showrooma 21-m-high cathedral of the automobile made of concrete, steel, and glass.

Kanal #1: Thinking is the first part of a three-part journal by Atelier Kanal, the consortium formed by architecture firms EM2N (Zurich), noAarchitecten (Brussels), and Sergison Bates Architects (London and Zurich) that won the commission to convert the Citron garage, built in the 1930s, into an arts and culture center for the 21st century. It explores a collaborative working method in which boundaries of individual authorship were blurred and co-authorship became the norm. A polyphonic concert of images, texts, voices, and perspectives, this exciting book highlights the spirit of exchange and collaboration that shapes this novel cultural venue.