Brewery Design Inspiration: Belgium

Our brewery design for Mickey Finn’s Brewery in downtown Libertyville was inspired by the fine architecture and age old brewing traditions of Belgium.

Architectural Inspiration

• The architecture of Belgium is famous the world over. In fact, there are 11 UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Belgium.

Brewing Inspiration

• Belgium has a rich history of beer brewing since the time of the first crusades. With permission of the Church, monks began making mild beer as a sanitary alternative to drinking water! According to Wikipedia, today there are about 180 breweries in Belgium, ranging from international giants to microbreweries, brewing over 800 varieties of beer.

How we expressed the rich Belgian tradition in the brewery design:

In Brugges, the stepped gable is the traditional Flemish form. Developed in the 15th to 18th centuries, there are many lovely examples of the the brick stepped gable form throughout Belgium.

• At Mickey Finn’s Brewery, the stepped gable façade on Milwaukee Avenue is a nod to Belgian architecture. Its stepped ascending form interfaces well with the existing bowstring truss roof line of the turn-of-the-century building.

Brussels, the capital of Belgium, is a showplace of Art Nouveau structures in this UNESCO-recognized world heritage site. Magnificent Belgian Art Nouveau buildings utilize steel, glass, and brick as an expression of their structure.

• For Mickey Finn’s Brewery design, we also employed traditional Belgian Art Nouveau elements of steel, glass and brick. For example, a steel and glass canopy graces the main entrance. Bold steel elements in the façade, such as steel framed window openings, express the building structure. Sandblasted painted brick exposed the natural brick on the interior and exterior.

Enjoy a little Belgian inspiration at the new Mickey Finn’s Brewery, set to open this month!