Victor Bozar Café

VICTOR is a vibrant meeting place in the Belgian capital. Visitors to an exhibition or a performance at the Bozar Fine Arts Centre as well as chance passers-by stop here for coffee, a healthy lunch or a light meal. Architects Robbrecht & Daem undertook the conversion of the former Bozar bookshop into a café-restaurant. These leading architects are accustomed to working in a historical context. They see the restrictions specific to a protected monument as an asset rather than a limitation. Like Victor Horta, Robbrecht & Daem believe that architecture and interior design are closely linked. Paul Robbrecht created a distinctive microcosm in the modest surroundings of a café to offer visitors a total experience. This original universe is reflected almost literally in the use of various circles in the interior: round chandeliers designed especially for Victor, round mirrors and granito circles on the floor, symbolising a planetarium of sunrises and sunsets. The dark green of the granito and the leather bench seats refers back to the green linoleum and granito that Horta himself integrated into the building. Even the tables are real works of art: a stylised musical instrument has been engraved in brass on each surface.