engineering

South Tower (Brussels)

South Tower (Brussels) 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 South Tower (Brussels) rather than just read about it. In short: The South Tower or Midi Tower (French: Tour du Midi; Dutch: Zuidertoren) is a 38-storey, 150 metres (490 ft) office skyscraper built between 1962 and 1967 in Brussels, Belgium. The tower is the tallest building in Belgium, and was the tallest in the European Economic Community (EEC) upon completion, until it was surpassed by Tour Montparnasse in Paris in 1972.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

The South Tower or Midi Tower (French: Tour du Midi; Dutch: Zuidertoren) is a 38-storey, 150 metres (490 ft) office skyscraper built between 1962 and 1967 in Brussels, Belgium. The tower is the tallest building in Belgium, and was the tallest in the European Economic Community (EEC) upon completion, until it was surpassed by Tour Montparnasse in Paris in 1972. The South Tower stands adjacent to Brussels-South railway station. The building's façade was reclad in 1995–96 with unitised glass panels using double glass solarbel silver, and it can accommodate about 2,500 office workers. It was built for the Belgian Federal Pensions Service (FPS), which still occupies it today, and it is thus often also called the Pensions Tower (French: Tour des Pensions; Dutch: Pensioentoren).

History Construction of the South Tower began in 1962 and ended in 1967, as part of the Brusselisation movement of the 1960s and 1970s in Belgium. The technique used to build the South Tower was bold and unique. Each floor of the tower is suspended from a base that forms the tower's central core. This central core contains the staircases, lifts, toilets, and other technical rooms. It occupies 40% of the building's surface area, leaving 60% for office space. Furthermore, the base does not rest on the ground but on foundations equipped with jacks capable of righting the tower in the event of an earthquake. The building has 37 floors supported by main beams attached to the central core like branches clinging to their trunk. There are 144 of these beams, each 40 metres (130 ft) long and weighing 40 tonnes (88,000 lb). This technique eliminates the need for columns, freeing up large usable spaces. The main beams are alternated between even and odd floors to avoid connection problems at their intersections. These beams were prestressed during their manufacture using a technique developed by the engineer Lipski: Preflex. This technique is used to prevent deformations due to the weight of the floors. Like the Berlaymont building (housing the European Commission's offices), the tower is anchored to the ground only by its central core. Exposed at its base to a height of 8 metres (26 ft), it is surrounded by basins whose water supplies the air conditioning cooling system for the lower floors. Metal sculptures by Jean-Pierre Ghysels and Jacques Moeschal animate the water jets with successive bursts. A low, very long, three-storey building (the "Block B") is connected to it by a walkway (which thus joins the second floor of each of the buildings). In 1996, renovation work began on the building. The glass façades were replaced and the interior was brought up to current standards: asbestos was removed and the electrical system was upgraded. The reception area and visitor space were also modernised.

Gallery

See also List of tallest structures in Belgium List of tallest buildings and structures in Brussels List of tallest buildings in the European Union

References

Citations

Bibliography Demey, Thierry (2008). Des gratte-ciel dans Bruxelles (in French). Brussels: Badeaux. ISBN 978-2-9600414-5-3.

External links Media related to South Tower (Saint-Gilles) at Wikimedia Commons Tour du Midi at SkyscraperPage Tour du Midi at Structurae Tour du Midi at SKYDB

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with South Tower (Brussels)

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what South Tower (Brussels) 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 South Tower (Brussels) 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 South Tower (Brussels) 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 South Tower (Brussels)

In research: South Tower (Brussels) 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 South Tower (Brussels) 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: South Tower (Brussels) is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1967 establishments in Belgium, Buildings and structures completed in 1967, Commercial buildings completed in 1967, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for South Tower (Brussels) 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 South Tower (Brussels) in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what South Tower (Brussels) 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 South Tower (Brussels) out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is South Tower (Brussels) in simple terms?

Why does South Tower (Brussels) 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 South Tower (Brussels)?

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 South Tower (Brussels).