The Atomium is a well-known building in Brussels that represents a unique style of architecture of its own—constructed in the year 1958 for Expo’ 58 (that is a model for a world fair) by duo personalities of renowned architects – André and Jean Polak along with Andre Waterkeyn who was an engineer by profession, guiding the duo with the necessary assistance and knowledge from time to time. The entire model was built to represent a replica of a small iron atom which, when magnified to 160 billion times, would have looked like the Atomium.
The structure of the Atomium stands above the ground at a height of 335 feet, 18 meters in width, and is built up with quality stainless steel clads. In its entirety, the whole edifice weighs around 2400 tons. A pole first forms the base above which a spherical ball-shaped structure is built that is basically the main part of the entire structure.
The complexity lies in the fact that there isn’t just one sphere or one pole that comprises of the entire set but a series of poles holding up at least 6-8 spheres on top of it in one setting. Tubes further connect these spheres from their twelve edges and an additional eight right from the center to its vertices. Sounding a bit compact in formation, but it is quite the contrary in real. Every sphere in itself has a spacious surrounding capable of accommodating 3-4 people easily inside it. One can transform the available space into anything they want depending upon the space that is available to it. A bedroom, bath, living area, and seating area are four regions that are both necessary areas and can be easily chalked out of the available space.
Getting in and out of it is possible through the escalators and lifts that are present in the structures of the tube. Only a person with peculiar taste would be able to rejoice in the wondrous style of architecture this building represents. For the rest with average taste might find it bizarre and weird. In fact, it’ll be amusing to know that a leading news channel CNN did quote the Atomium as the most bizarre building of all time in the Europe.
The Atomium was initially built up with the mindset that it was going to be a temporary building that would be dismantled once the exhibition of the world fair came to an end. But the project won over the hearts of many with its exceptional style and architecture and created a buzz that took in the bright minds of entire Europe into a state of wonderment. So authorities took it with all seriousness, and it was soon declared as one of the major landmarks of Brussels. It has even undergone a renovation in the past decade, where the faded aluminum sheets enclosing the spheres were replaced by stainless steel. It was a costly affair, but the authorities were smart enough to make some money out of the scrap taken from it. A single piece of aluminum (2m in length) was sold for a staggering amount of 2000 Euros back then, where buyers bought it to keep it as souvenirs.
