engineering

Place Jean Rey

Place Jean Rey is a engineering topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Place Jean Rey rather than just read about it. In short: The Place Jean Rey (French, pronounced [plas ʒɑ̃ ʁɛ]) or Jean Reyplein (Dutch, pronounced [ʒɑ̃ ˈrɛiˌplɛin]) is a square in the European Quarter of Brussels, Belgium. It was inaugurated in 2001 and is named after Jean Rey, the second president of the European Commission.

Key takeaways

Place Jean Rey belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Place Jean Rey to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Place Jean Rey from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Place Jean Rey (French, pronounced [plas ʒɑ̃ ʁɛ]) or Jean Reyplein (Dutch, pronounced [ʒɑ̃ ˈrɛiˌplɛin]) is a square in the European Quarter of Brussels, Belgium. It was inaugurated in 2001 and is named after Jean Rey, the second president of the European Commission. The headquarters of some of the major EU institutions, including those of the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament, are located on or close to the square. This area is served by Brussels-Luxembourg railway station, as well as by the metro stations Maelbeek/Maalbeek and Schuman on lines 1 and 5.

History The Place Jean Rey was included in plans for the Justus Lipsius building (headquarters of the Council of the European Union) in 1984. Its construction was delayed due to controversies about the area around the Justus Lipsius, legal difficulties, and failed schemes such as plans to demolish a large residential area. Belgian authorities created the space in 2001, as it was thought their reputation would be tarnished if they did not manage to improve the foreboding image of the European Quarter. It was inaugurated at the start of the Belgian EU presidency on 26 June 2001.

Layout The Place Jean Rey is paved with natural stone, bordered by plant boxes and benches facing 24 water jets in the centre, which mirror the Maelbeek collector and storm basin below. Trees line the western side (not open to traffic) mirroring the axis starting at the entrance of Leopold Park across the street to the south. It is named after the former president of the European Commission, Jean Rey, and occupies a space between the Justus Lipsius building (used to hold low-level meetings of the Council of the European Union and provide office space to the Council's Secretariat) and Leopold Park (next to the Espace Léopold of the European Parliament).

Future Plans for the rebuilding of the quarter would see the renovation of the Chaussée d'Etterbeek/Etterbeeksesteenweg into a tree-lined avenue. The renovated section would terminate at the Place Jean Rey, which would become a traffic island, with the west side being turned into a road. This would remove the tree-lined area mirroring the entrance to Leopold Park but there would be trees lining the opposite sides of the road to the north, west and east, a new fountain in the south west corner and the possibility of a tram line cutting across the square following the Chaussée d’Etterbeek. The car park to the west would see new buildings built on it, as the east side has been. The bland facade of the Justus Lipsius building, overlooking the square, is also to be renovated with the possibility of the lower floors being demolished to provide a visual link across the square between Leopold Park and the Berlaymont building. In 2004, the Brussels Intercommunal Transport Company (STIB/MIVB) laid out long to medium term plans to build a metro stop on the Place Jean Rey.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Place Jean Rey

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Place Jean Rey claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Place Jean Rey before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Place Jean Rey ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Place Jean Rey

In research: Place Jean Rey appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Place Jean Rey in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Place Jean Rey is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Buildings and structures completed in 2001, City of Brussels, European quarter of Brussels, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Place Jean Rey outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Place Jean Rey in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Place Jean Rey means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Place Jean Rey out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Place Jean Rey in simple terms?

Why does Place Jean Rey matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Place Jean Rey?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Place Jean Rey.