Over a century ago, the Brussels-based Baron Empain dreamt of a modern oasis neighbourhood in the desert: Heliopolis, near Cairo. Today, from his Paris office, the Belgian architect Vincent Callebaut is realising an equally visionary and grandiose construction project in the same district: The Gate Residence – Heliopolis. Or how mirages become reality, this time complete with a shopping centre.

Until recently, the ‘green’ design drawings from the firm Vincent Callebaut Architects were dismissed by risk-averse property developers and investors as fanciful, imaginary and utopian. Admittedly, now that Callebaut’s futuristic ‘comic-strip drawings’ are under construction, that opinion is shifting, though a critical eye remains appropriate. Far from here stands the Agora Garden in Taipei (Taiwan), a stacked tower of villas with private gardens, due for completion after the turn of the year. Closer to home, in the heart of Luxembourg City, his commission to ecologically redevelop the historic Hôtel des Postes (owned by the telecoms and postal company Poste Luxembourg) beckons. Callebaut won that competition in 2016 and is grafting a concept of greening and a hyper-connected ecosystem onto this venerable Luxembourg institution.