Foster + Partners to Design First Project in Luxembourg

Foster + Partners has won the international competition to design Luxembourg Royal Hamilius, a mixed-use development in the heart of Luxembourg City developed by Codic International. The design is a collaboration with Luxembourg-based architects Tetra Kayser.

Designed to enhance and repair the urban fabric and create a suitable setting for the city’s UNESCO World Heritage Site, the project comprises a department store, offices, shops, apartments, and a variety of social and civic spaces. Designed as a gateway to the historic quarter of the city, the development is anchored by the historic Hotel des Postes, which provides the backdrop to a new civic square with space for ice skating, markets, open air concerts or cinema screenings.

The arrangement of buildings maintains the principal visual axis along the Grand Rue and Avenue Monterey and draws on the existing urban identity of Luxembourg, replicating its diversity of spaces. Rue Aldringen will be transformed into a shopping street, with access to apartments above, and the scheme is topped by a sky garden, with panoramic views of the city. A curving steel structure, set in the landscaped surroundings of the park, encloses a rooftop bar and will be visible throughout the city.

Stefan Behling, a design director at Foster + Partners, said: “We are delighted with this excellent result and look forward to further developing the scheme. Our proposal is based on a sequence of rich public spaces, inside and outside, which will extend and add to the urban life of the city, rather than be isolated from it. Balancing the classical and modern, the magnificent Hotel des Postes will be complemented by a sky garden and futuristic bar – this, we hope, will be an exciting new destination for the people of Luxembourg.”