COURONNE

janvier, 2024

COURONNE

A new cultural center for Ixelles

Description: renovation and transformation of an old villa into a socio-cultural facility in Ixelles

Partners of collaboration: TAKTYK Landscape Urbanism – ND Stabilité – DÉTANG Engineering – ASM Acoustics
Type of project: Cultural
Type of customer: Public
Department: Transformation and renovation
Location: Ixelles, Brussels (BE)
Year: 2023

The proposal for the contest consists in a punctual transformation of the existing. The site of 40 avenue de la Couronne is an incredible site with impressive architectural and landscape qualities.

Originally, the existing house had been conceived as a generous private house. The contest offers to transform it into a cultural center which generates various technical adaptations. (fire security, structural adjustments, etc.)

The project’s mission is to visualize and value the existing qualities, to create a path through the topography of the site, to secure the different accesses and to transform the villa in a friendly and welcoming place for the users of the future cultural center.

The interventions are mainly limited to the essential, through a detailed analysis of existing spaces and based on an inventory of materials. The renovation follows an acupuncture approach: restoring a wall to consolidate, open spaces to gather volumes or create an opening to bring light and garden views into the heart of the center. All within the respect of the heritage value and the material life cycle.

The major architectural intervention is situated outside the building, huge terraces are creating several stunning views above the district. The proposed structure is transforming itself into an architectural ribbon creating new links.

The morphology of the site creates a huge gab in the neighborhood. The idea of the landscape design turns around the approach of creating a gateway between the popular district of rue Gray and the upscale district of avenue de la Couronne. A delicate suspended structure develops itself along the existing topography and above the vegetation of the wooded hillside. An architectural promenade invites the users to discover several outdoor spaces along the walkway. A green theater, vegetable gardens and various spaces designed with a scenography approach are hosting various activities of the cultural center.

FOULONS

avril, 2023

FOULONS

Renovation of a villa

Description: Renovation and construction of 7 appartements
Type of project: Housing
Type of customer: Regie Foncière
Department: Transformation and construction
Location: Brussels (BE)
Surface area: 540 m²
Year: 2023 –
Contractor:

Located in the heart of the Anneessens district in the Brussels pentagon and close to the Midi station, the project fills the last hollow tooth in the Rue des Foulons. The latter is a lively artery in the district due to the presence of local shops and associations. A strong social cohesion and an attachment to these shops offer the inhabitants of the street and of the adjacent streets a quality of life and an identity that is conducive to the development of a true neighbourhood life.

Our ambition is to work with the intrinsic qualities of the site, to work with the existing. The hollow space will allow the construction of a front building aiming at stitching the urban fabric. At the bottom of the plot, the old building is entirely preserved to enhance the value of a structurally viable construction and to avoid the impact of demolition, with the construction waste that this represents.

The gap between the two buildings is the result of a search for balance between the individual comfort of the dwellings and the distance between the interior facades. The front building has been dimensioned in such a way as to guarantee comfortable accommodation.

A perfect interweaving of the programme has allowed the depth of the building to be reduced to a minimum, creating an open space, wide enough to allow air and natural light to penetrate the heart of the plot. The circulation is implanted in the open space and serves the two buildings. The position of the stairs and footbridges in light construction.

The ground floor of the plot is dedicated to common spaces that will ensure a smooth transition from the street, while offering shared functions to the inhabitants. These spaces are visible to and crossed by all and encourage social interaction between the inhabitants. The sharing of certain spaces is today a major condition for the vitality of social exchanges and can play a role in the ecological transition by sharing the equipment necessary for the comfort of urban life.

Driven by ecological and social ambitions, we have given priority to spatial quality over surface area, by proposing rational, functional and comfortable studios. This choice allows us to free up a part of the ground dedicated to the creation of a permeable, planted common open space, a place of conviviality at the heart of the plot.

SAINT-ANTOINE

octobre, 2022

SAINT-ANTOINE

Design of a playground for a primary and kindergarten school, renovation of the existing buildings

Description: Transformation of the playground and renovation of the school (primary and kindergarten)
Type of project: Education
Type of customer: Public
Department: Transformation and renovation
Location: Forest, Brussels (BE)
Surface area: 800m²
Year: in progress

REINE

mai, 2022

REINE

New student center in Brussels.

Description: Competition for a new student Center

Collaboration: L’escaut (architecture), Les Marneurs (landscape), Ecores (circular economy), Ney+PARTNERS, MK Engineering, Marbre d’ici, Match Mining
Type of project: Culture, Education
Type of customer: Public, BMA
Department: Renovation
Location: Place de la Reine, Brussels (BE)
Year: 2022

The Place de la Reine and the Maison des Arts stand side by side without meeting. The student pole project will be the kneecap of these two spaces, a transitional moment between a very mineral square and the green space of the Maison des Arts. Similarly, the flexibility of the opening and closing of the interior street is easily controlled at the two front and rear access doors without altering the circulation of students, the coworking zone or the event space’s potential users at late hours. Particular attention will be paid to this inclusive passage whose accessibility is made comfortable for all with these gentle slopes that naturally connect these two attractive poles.
This interstitial and landscaped walk will accompany visitors through the building.
An artistic intervention takes place in this interior street and tends to reflect the history of the place.
A visual relationship is established between the two spaces through this new open perspective and its generous ceiling height. The planting of the passageway and the square and the garden of house 14 constitute a landscaped path that allows the percolation of green spaces. The presence of vegetation within the project thus deploys a real landscape sequence, accompanying the visitor from the square, through the greened passage to the
garden.
The covered street is articulated like a backbone activated on both sides by the functions functions of the student center. The neighborhood counter feeds the contact with the street. On the garden side,
the kitchen enlivens the garden and accompanies the route to and from the Maison des Arts. These programs placed at both ends of the interior alley incense activity and social control naturally throughout the day. The positioning of the kitchen is even more ideal in the event of
The positioning of the kitchen is even more ideal in the event of a mutualisation with the kitchen of the Maison des Arts.
This place can be defined as hybrid, both urban and domestic. Free of any programmatic constraints, this place will be conducive to the birth of informal exchanges and meetings.

VAN HAELEN

mai, 2022

VAN HAELEN

Description: Transformation of a family house into 2 appartements
Type of project: Housing
Type of customer: Public – Municipality of Forest, Brussels
Department: Transformation and renovation
Location: Forest, Brussels (BE)
Surface area: 300m²
Year: 2022
Stability engineers: Mathieu Collard