Seat of the European Parliament in Strasbourg

Louise Weiss building
Immeuble du Parlement Européen IV (IPE 4)
Plaque commemorating the inauguration of the Louise Weiss Building of the European Parliament in Strasbourg on 14 December 1999, by President of France, Jacques Chirac, and President of the European Parliament, Nicole Fontaine.
General information
Type	Debating Chamber and MEP offices
Architectural style	Contemporary
Location	Strasbourg, France
Coordinates	48°35′51″N 7°46′08″E / 48.597401°N 7.768825°E / 48.597401; 7.768825 (Louise Weiss building)
Completed	14 December 1999
Owner	European Union
Height	60 m (tower)
Dimensions
Diameter	100 m (tower)
Other dimensions	Hemicycle inside : 56×44×15 m (184×144×49 ft)
Technical details
Floor count	20 (17 above-ground levels, 3 sub-ground levels)
Floor area	220,000 m2 (2,400,000 sq ft)
Design and construction
Architect	Architecture-Studio : Martin Robain, Rodo Tisnado, Jean-François Bonne, Alain Bretagnolle René-Henri Arnaud, Laurent-Marc Fischer and Gaston Valente
Structural engineer	Gpci
Other designers	Sogelerg Ote Serue Etf
Main contractor	S.E.R.S.

The city of Strasbourg (France) is the official seat of the European Parliament. The institution is legally bound to meet there twelve sessions a year lasting about four days each. Other work takes place in Brussels and Luxembourg City (see Location of European Union institutions for more information). Also all votes of the European Parliament must take place in Strasbourg. "Additional" sessions and committees take place in Brussels. Although de facto a majority of the Parliament's work is now geared to its Brussels site, it is legally bound to keep Strasbourg as its official home.

The Parliament's buildings are located in the Quartier Européen (European Quarter) of the city, which it shares with other European organisations which are separate from the European Union's. Previously the Parliament used to share the same assembly room as the Council of Europe. Today, the principal building is the Louise Weiss building, inaugurated in 1999.

The Louise Weiss building (IPE 4) (named after Louise Weiss, a French former member of the parliament, is located in the Wacken district of Strasbourg, south of Schiltigheim, between the 1920s workers' suburban colony (Cité ouvrière) Cité Ungemach and the 1950s buildings of the Strasbourg fair, some of which had to be torn down to make way for the Immeuble du Parlement européen 4, its formal name. Built at a cost of 3.1 billion French francs (470 million euros) at the intersection of the Ill and the Marne-Rhine Canal, it houses the hemicycle for plenary sessions, the largest of any European institution (750 seats – expanded to 785 – for MEPs and 680 for visitors), 18 other assembly rooms as well as a total of 1,133 parliamentary offices. Through a covered footbridge over the Ill, the Louise Weiss communicates with the Winston Churchill and Salvador de Madariaga buildings.