Brussels, Jan 24: After more than three-decades of living in temporary accommodations, the Nato alliance on Thursday announced plans to build a new, futuristic headquarter across the road from its current location in Brussels. After a 14-month architectural competition, the 19-member military alliance chose a design involving four wave-shaped blocks linked by a central hall from London-based consortium Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, Inc in association with Belgium company Assar.

"A new headquarters for Nato is... a tangible manifestation of the alliance's ambitious agenda for transformation, adaptation, renewal and change," said Secretary General Lord Robertson.
"It is also a signal that Nato is projecting itself in the future with confidence," he added.
Robertson said that the new building should be inaugurated by the end of the decade. He declined to speculate on the cost of the building, which would be shared among the allies. Unofficial estimates carried in Belgian news media gave the cost as at least 300 million euro ($323 million). Bureau Report