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Matches in UGent Biblio for { ?s ?p Expo 58 was the first post-war universal and international exhibition. This world’s fair was held on the fringes of the Belgian capital, Brussels, on the 200 hectare large Heysel Plateau. Over 41.5 million have visited the exhibition between April 17 and October 19 1958. With its five sections, 43 visiting nations, 127 pavilions and a total amount of buildings adding up to over 200, Expo 58 still is one of the largest world’s fairs ever organized. The organization of Expo 58 is linked closely with the creation of the modern, post-war Belgian state. To motivate the choice for Belgium as the nation to stage the first post-war world’s fair, its organizers referred to the advanced economic and political position of Belgium in those years(1946-1958), but also to its long tradition of great exhibitions. Yet from an organizational point of view, Expo 58 was the first Belgian universal exhibition organized and financed by the government. The event was forwarded as a project of national prestige, which set out to demonstrate the modern face of the post-war welfare state. The material impact of this image-building was not restricted to the fenced exhibition site. In the slipstream of Expo 58, the post-war Belgian government took an often neglected, but important stance in the heart of the capital. This paper focuses on the building projects of the Belgian government situated alongside the Kantersteen Avenue, starting from the Cité administrative (1955-1980) and running to the Mont des Arts (1937-1969). Notwithstanding their long and complex planning histories, six large projects were forwarded shortly after the completion of the underground North-South railroad axis (1952) – and hence, in the period of preparation of Expo 58. The paper identifies the assembly of public and office buildings as the new face of the post-war Belgian administration, which constitute the modern façade of the administration district of “upper” Brussels vis-à-vis the old centre. In contrast to contemporary projects abroad, state administration was centralized in the very heart of the historical capital. Remarkably, in spite of the political importance of these projects and the promoters’ involvement with image-building, no overall architectural style or project was forwarded by the state. Yet, divergent as their appearances and concepts might be, all of these projects were presented as post-war modern architecture at the time of the fair. The study is based largely on archival research in the papers of the organizers of Expo 58. While the paper considers the full impact of the often implicit fair-related discourse on the area studied, one project will be discussed in greater detail to illustrate the close relations between Expo 58 and these downtown projects: the Mont des Arts, which was planned to house an extra muros art exhibition of Expo 58. The text takes into account the personalities involved in the planning of this area and draws similarities between the concepts and architects forwarded on this site and in the Technical Service of Expo 58. Notwithstanding the large impact in the city fabric, the architecture and the motivations of the Belgian government for this dominant site and its close links with Expo 58 remained largely unstudied to date.. }

• aggregation abstract "Expo 58 was the first post-war universal and international exhibition. This world’s fair was held on the fringes of the Belgian capital, Brussels, on the 200 hectare large Heysel Plateau. Over 41.5 million have visited the exhibition between April 17 and October 19 1958. With its five sections, 43 visiting nations, 127 pavilions and a total amount of buildings adding up to over 200, Expo 58 still is one of the largest world’s fairs ever organized. The organization of Expo 58 is linked closely with the creation of the modern, post-war Belgian state. To motivate the choice for Belgium as the nation to stage the first post-war world’s fair, its organizers referred to the advanced economic and political position of Belgium in those years(1946-1958), but also to its long tradition of great exhibitions. Yet from an organizational point of view, Expo 58 was the first Belgian universal exhibition organized and financed by the government. The event was forwarded as a project of national prestige, which set out to demonstrate the modern face of the post-war welfare state. The material impact of this image-building was not restricted to the fenced exhibition site. In the slipstream of Expo 58, the post-war Belgian government took an often neglected, but important stance in the heart of the capital. This paper focuses on the building projects of the Belgian government situated alongside the Kantersteen Avenue, starting from the Cité administrative (1955-1980) and running to the Mont des Arts (1937-1969). Notwithstanding their long and complex planning histories, six large projects were forwarded shortly after the completion of the underground North-South railroad axis (1952) – and hence, in the period of preparation of Expo 58. The paper identifies the assembly of public and office buildings as the new face of the post-war Belgian administration, which constitute the modern façade of the administration district of “upper” Brussels vis-à-vis the old centre. In contrast to contemporary projects abroad, state administration was centralized in the very heart of the historical capital. Remarkably, in spite of the political importance of these projects and the promoters’ involvement with image-building, no overall architectural style or project was forwarded by the state. Yet, divergent as their appearances and concepts might be, all of these projects were presented as post-war modern architecture at the time of the fair. The study is based largely on archival research in the papers of the organizers of Expo 58. While the paper considers the full impact of the often implicit fair-related discourse on the area studied, one project will be discussed in greater detail to illustrate the close relations between Expo 58 and these downtown projects: the Mont des Arts, which was planned to house an extra muros art exhibition of Expo 58. The text takes into account the personalities involved in the planning of this area and draws similarities between the concepts and architects forwarded on this site and in the Technical Service of Expo 58. Notwithstanding the large impact in the city fabric, the architecture and the motivations of the Belgian government for this dominant site and its close links with Expo 58 remained largely unstudied to date.".