Louvain-la-Neuve - Townscape

In Louvain-la-Neuve it was intended to try out new forms of residence and living. More than 80 architects wanted to turn away from the idea of a large town and to recreate the intimate character of small areas as they were in a medieval town; therefore around the urban center brick was the preferred material for the buildings in the narrow little streets. Here pedestrians have priority; the station access roads and parking lots are sited underground and from them a system of passages, branching out in all directions, leads into the open air.

The center of the town is the main square with the concrete university hall, the Church of Saint-François d'Assise and the Museum of the Archaeological and Art History Institute in which sculpture from the 12th to the 18th C. is displayed. Around the center are grouped the residential buildings of the parts of the town called Bruyères, Hocaille, Lauzelle and Biéreau; to the east towards the motorway lie the science park and the large buildings of the cyclotron. Relaxation from studies can be enjoyed in the provincial estate the "Bois des Rêves".