“Brussels, a city for people rather than a city for cars” is the central idea behind the winning design by the Belgian architects BRUT and the Danish firm COBE. With their proposal, they responded to the request for spatial reorganisation of Schuman Square and its surroundings by creating a pedestrian area and a place for meeting and gathering. The square, currently dominated by motorised traffic, is transformed into a circular agora beneath a metal canopy. The symbolism of this place, at the heart of the European institutions, is expressed through the architects’ democratically inspired design. The circular agora echoes the main chamber of the European Parliament. The canopy reflects the people and the public space beneath it, thus embodying the union of all citizens and institutions. The optimisation of the canopy’s shape and the positioning of the columns emerged from computational design methods. One of the challenges lies in the foundations of the canopy: beneath the square is a tangle of intersecting metro, road and railway tunnels. The loads from the columns are distributed by steel beams that spread out in star-shaped patterns and thus find their support points. The columns are not fixed, but work within portal frame structures, making wind bracing unnecessary. The upper step of the agora acts as a ring beam and connects the columns. The roof of the canopy, with its characteristic mirrored stainless-steel soffit, is structurally composed of prestressed vaults. A green roof completes the positive message conveyed by the design.