The European Parliament, on the banks of the Ill river, is built in an area with highly permeable soil, due to the fact that the water table is close to ground surface. During the first phase of the work, a 890 m perimeter of bored diaphragm walls was installed at a depth of 18-19m.

The 199 panels covering the walls, each 52mm thick, were anchored to the soil with 306 tie-rods. Thousand of tonnes of cement grout were injected into the soil, for a period of approximately 3 months, to create an impermeable bottom plug of 31,500m² and average thickness of 3 m. The project consists of two main structures: a vertical building, and a horizontal building, including the Hemicycle.

The vertical building is a cylindrical tower, 72m high and 94m in diameter. It has 21 floors, of which 3 underground. The tower has a circular layout which converts into an internal ellipse, creating a large internal courtyard measuring 80 m long, 60 m wide, 50 m high.

The horizontal building houses, in addition to the 750-seat Hemicycle, some 30 meeting rooms with capacity varying from 40 to 350 seats, TV and radio studios, press rooms with adjoining photographic laboratories, eight public reception rooms and two restaurants, with their own bar and kitchen, for a total capacity of 1,200 persons.

The underground levels include parking for 1,200 vehicles including 40 coaches, together with a service tunnel below the Ill river for rapid transfer of documents between the services centre, located in the old building, and the Hemicycle.

Client: Société d'Aménagement et d'Equipement de la Région de Strasbourg

Main Technical Data:

Total building surface: 220,000 m²

Concrete: 130,000 m³

Prestressed concrete: 8,600 m³

Formworks: 206,000 m²

Piles (D. 0.60 to 1.00 m): 1,300 n