National Radio Broadcasting Institute (Institut national de la Radiodiffusion (INR/NIR)) (1935)

Designed by architect Joseph Diongre, the building stands on the southwestern corner of Place Eugène Flagey and Place Sainte-Croix in the Ixelles municipality of Brussels. It represents one of the city's finest examples of Art Deco andStreamline Moderne

architecture, the terms most used in Belgium. Due to the unstable groundwater levels of the nearby Ixelles Ponds, the structure required an innovative foundation system composed of 836 concrete piles driven 11 to 12 metres deep. The exterior features a highly symmetrical façade built from yellow brick and bluestone, dominated by sweeping horizontal lines, long bands of glass, and rounded corners. A prominent, telescoping turret crowns the exterior, giving the building its famous nautical, steamship-like appearance, which earned it the local nickname "Packet Boat" (Paquebot).

Interestingly, this iconic tower was not part of Diongre’s original competition blueprint; it was added by engineer Raymond Braillard between 1934 and 1935. He modifyed the original competition blueprint before the main construction began. Crucially,the tower was not placed in front of the antenna; rather, it was specifically designed to house and encase the television broadcasting antenna within its structure. Braillard insisted on this modification to house a future television broadcasting antenna

. Even though regular television broadcasts in Belgium did not start until 1953, he anticipated this technological shift.  The building’s corners are entirely rounded, allowing the horizontal windows to flow smoothly around the structure. Long, continuous bands of glazing stretch uninterrupted across the exterior.

The primary entrance features a grand, multi-storey stone portico that forms a dramatic vertical anchor on the square. It is filled with large, dark-framed glass panels and geometric ironwork, creating an elegant, transparent gateway into the grand lobby. 

Internally, the facility was conceptually revolutionary as one of Europe's earliest purpose-built large-scale broadcasting hubs, alongside centres in London and Berlin. To meet advanced acoustic engineering standards, the facility was designed with isolated structural zones, including three-foot-thick brick walls to isolate sound. It originally housed twelve acoustic recording studios. The architectural and acoustic crown jewel of the interior is Studio 4, a highly flexible hall celebrated globally for its exceptional acoustics and built-in organ. During the 1998–2002 restoration, the technical installations were fully updated to state-of-the-art parameters, while the famous acoustics of Studio 4 were structurally preserved and doubled to adapt the space into a world-class concert venue.

The building with many names originally served as the purpose-built headquarters of Belgium's national public service broadcasting company, the National Institute of Radio Broadcasting (INR/NIR). Following the rise of private radio stations, the institute was established in 1930 based on the model of the BBC.

In 1933, a national architectural design competition was launched to create a dedicated facility, which was evaluated by a 13-member jury that included prominent masters such as Victor Horta. The building officially opened in 1938.

During the German occupation in the Second World War (1940–1944/45), its broadcasting operations faced severe disruption; the INR-NIR sabotaged its transmitters, and the installation was used by the occupying forces for propaganda broadcasts under the name Sender Brüssel, while the Belgian government in exile broadcast from London.

Following the post-war restoration and the introduction of regular television broadcasts in 1953, the building remained the flagship centre of Belgian media for decades. In 1960, the institution was split along linguistic lines into the Flemish BRT and the French-speaking RTB.

The broadcasting networks eventually outgrew the facility and moved to the new Cité de la Radio-télévision at Reyers in 1974, leaving the original property largely vacant and prone to neglect. Threatened by demolition and high asbestos removal costs, the structure was officially classified as a historic landmark in 1994 and placed on the World Monuments Watch list in 1998.

In June 1998, a public-private limited company acquired the property, initiating a extensive rehabilitation programme led by the Samyn Architects office. The building reopened in 2002 and was repurposed as theLe Flagey cultural centre, which now hosts concerts, film festivals, and serves as the permanent home of the Brussels Philharmonic.

• monument.heritage.brussels Ancien Institut national de radiodiffusion
• wmf.org Previous Radio and Television Building
• admirable-facades.brussels Former Maison de la Radio - Flagey
• flagey.be the Flagey building
• wikipedia.org Flagey Building
• wikipedia.org National Institute of Radio Broadcasting