The institution is legally bound by the decision of Edinburgh European Council of 11 and 12 December 1992 and Article 341 of the TFEU to meet there twelve times a year for a session, each of which usually takes about four days.

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),[7] 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.

[9] After the project was approved at an international contest in 1991, work, commissioned by the Société d'Aménagement et d'Équipement de la Région de Strasbourg on behalf of the Urban Community of Strasbourg, started in May 1995, with up to twelve tower cranes at the time on what was one of the biggest building sites of the decade in Europe.

[11] The 60m high tower, intentionally left unfinished on one side, carries heavy symbolism, and is often said to have been oriented eastwards, i.e. towards eastern Europe, as by the time of the completion of the building no country from the former Soviet bloc had yet joined the EU.

[14] Since 2004, the center of the Agora is marked with a glass sculpture "United Earth" by artist Tomasz Urbanowicz, which refers to the notion of openness and further expansion of the European Union.

[15] The glass artifact was approved by the Architecture-Studio and officially handed over as a gift from the City of Wrocław in the presence of the Josep Borrell, then President of the European Parliament.

Cracks in the beams that support the ceiling led to a security closure of at least six months, as announced by an estimate released on 9 October 2012 by the Parliament administration.

[24][25] Since, as of December 2012, the European Parliament is "having trouble" finding a company to carry out the repair work, it is likely that the reopening of the Brussels hemicycle may take place only in 2014.

[26][needs update] The Louise Weiss building in Strasbourg has been subjected to criticism for its complex interior design: "It is apparently transparent but almost impossible to navigate; there are bridges between different levels, but you cannot quite work out where they lead".

Both buildings, designed by the municipal architect François Sauer with the assistance of Jean-Paul Friedmann on behalf of the SERS actually form one single complex with a surface of 58,400m², built at a cost of 81 million euros,[33] inaugurated in 1980 (later modified in 1988 and 1991, in relation to the construction of the IPE 3) and designed in a post-modern style often characterised by convoluted, serpentine architecture, relative heights and glazed facades.

[34][35] The Salvador de Madariaga building also houses the other EU body of which Strasbourg is the official seat (since 1992): the European Ombudsman.

This was not the first such incident as bacteria causing Legionnaires has been discovered in the water system of the complex after a number of officials reported in ill.

[38] The Pierre Pflimlin building (IPE 3), a heart-shaped, comparatively low building built on behalf of the SERS at the crossing of Avenue du Président Robert Schuman and Allée Spach,[39] inaugurated in 1991 as a press and media center (Centre de presse et d'information) at a cost of 38 million euros,[40] has been given the name of the former President of European Parliament on 6 July 2007.

The Václav Havel building was inaugurated on 5 July 2017 by EP President Antonio Tajani, and French Minister for European Affairs, Nathalie Loiseau.

[42][43][44] The Simone Veil building was inaugurated on 21 November 2023 by French Prime minister Élisabeth Borne and EP president Roberta Metsola.