Shopping I

Shopping I, built in 1968, was Belgium’s very first shopping centre. Apart from being a shopping mall, it has always functioned as a meeting place for Genk and its surroundings.

The entire building is thoroughly renovated and expanded. A new building at the Europalaan houses shops and car parks on the higher floors. The two new monumental entrances in the Europalaan and the existing entrances firmly embed the mall in the Genk city infrastructure. Some existing shops were relocated creating a two storey high patio and a spectacular window that provides the mall with daylight.

The plinth course of the building consists of large shopping windows and massive travertine surfaces. The upper floors are covered with golden coloured anodised expanded metal. This transparent covering folds around the building with changing amplitude and transparency. This way the façades offer an ever changing play of light depending on the position of sun.