HOOGVORST

décembre, 2024

HOOGVORST

A cultural hub dedicated to eary childhood

Description: renovation and transformation of an old theater

Partners of collaboration: VANTHOURNOUT architecture – TAKTYK Landscape Urbanism – STir – KAMAR – ASM Acoustics
Type of project: Cultural – Education
Type of customer: Public
Department: Transformation and renovation
Location: Ixelles, Brussels (BE)
Year: 2024

The proposal for the contest aims to establish a community hub dedicated to early childhood in the former Magicland premises, addressing multiple objectives: to coexist harmoniously with the urban dynamics of Rue d’Aerschot, to create a pocket of biodiversity in a dense urban setting, and to integrate diverse functions, including a crèche, offices, and an educational agricultural activity.

The design highlights the courtyard’s remarkable tree by incorporating permeable surfaces that promote biodiversity and provide a cooling effect. The building is anchored on the existing foundations, and its stepped form adapts to the environment, creating space for the natural growth and expansion of the tree’s crown over time.

The historic facade will be restored, while reclaimed materials from the site will ensure aesthetic and environmental continuity.

The spaces are thoughtfully designed for varied uses, with separate access points for the primary functions (crèche, urban agriculture, and maintenance). Particular emphasis has been placed on the fluidity of circulation, accessibility for people with reduced mobility (PMR), and the versatility of spaces, such as the bright atrium, which serves as an interface between the crèche’s sections.

The basement accommodates a micro-agricultural production facility integrated with an educational component.

Children and parents are welcomed on the ground floor of the former factory buildings.
Three sections are organized around a central, light-filled atrium, which functions as a reception area, inner courtyard, and a space for events and educational activities.
A dedicated entrance area allows parents to accompany their children to the changing rooms.
Each section features its own facilities: an activity room, enclosed dormitories, a changing area, and a feeding station.

The first floor houses administrative functions and staff areas. Offices, positioned along the facade, benefit from ample natural light and open views of the garden and surrounding areas. These modular spaces are designed to adapt to evolving needs over time.
Additional office spaces are located beneath the building’s original timber roof structure, offering a bright and inviting environment suited to individual or small-group work.

The building’s layout optimizes movement flows and prevents interference between its various functions.

The new corner building enhances the overall functionality by providing storage space, workshops, and bicycle parking facilities.

Sustainability lies at the core of the project, emphasizing circular design principles, material reuse, spatial adaptability, and minimalistic finishes.

Lastly, the material palette and development strategy prioritize robustness, reversibility, and minimal environmental impact, embodying a forward-looking approach to ecological transition.

FLORIDE

août, 2024

FLORIDE

Renovation of a family house

Description: Renovation of a single house
Type of project: House
Type of customer: Private
Department: Renovation
Location: Uccle, Brussels (BE)
Surface area: 380 m²
Year: 2022-2024

pictures: Delphine Mathy

The project involves a major renovation and transformation of an existing semi-detached family house in Uccle.

The original volume of the house has been mainly maintained while the entrance and the stairs were modified to maximize the entrance of light through the third façade at the back of the house.

The ground floor is now dedicated to the entrance, storage, offices and a garage; the first floor contains the living area, and the other levels are assigned to multiple bedrooms. The levels are connected by a new concrete staircase which offers nice views over the garden.

The ground floor has been enhanced and transformed. An office area has been added, and new, larger windows and openings brighten the interior. The front door has been modified to allow ground floor access. The existing living area has been transformed to create an open and illuminated living and dining room with a direct connection to the open kitchen, which is linked to a large terrace on the garden side of the house. A library has been installed in the former entrance hall, giving a view across to the garden and a degree of ‘inside/outside’ permeability thanks to the stairwell, which extends to the rear and has a large bay window over its entire height

The facade work is characterized by brickwork without visible joints.

ESCRIMES

juin, 2023

ESCRIME

Juxtapositional extension connected to a 1930’s house.

Description: Extension of a family house
Type of project: Housing
Type of customer: Private
Department: Transformation and renovation
Location: Woluwe Saint Lambert, Brussels (BE)
Surface area: m²
Year: 2022-2023
Contractor: MRB BATIMENT sprl

Pictures: Cinzia Romanin

The project calls for the creation of a garden-side extension to accommodate a living room in contact with the garden. This new volume is designed as a link between the outdoor space and the kitchen. The transition between

The transition between levels is ensured by a mid-height position between the garden level and the ground floor.

The interior spaces are largely open between the dining room and kitchen and between the kitchen and living room.

The position of the extension is designed to limit its impact on the useful, sunny garden space.

In terms of architectural language, the expression is resolutely contemporary but is based on the reinterpretation of certain compositional elements of the existing house, such as the cornice overhangs.

ALSEMBERG

septembre, 2022

ALSEMBERG

Family house in Uccle

Description: Transformation and renovation of an warehouse into a residential housing.
Type of project: Housing – Familyhouse
Type of customer: Private
Department: Transformation and renovation
Location: Uccle, Brussels (BE)
Surface area: 280 m²
Year: 2020-2022
Pictures: Delphine Mathy
Contractor: MP instal
Stability engineers : Verhelst Engineers
Collaboration : BC architect, Rotor
PEB: Coralie Van Pottelsberghe

Located in Uccle in the interior of a city block, an aluminum coloring warehouse that had been abandoned for more than 10 years was converted into a passive house for the owners.

The ensemble formed by the carriage entrance and the abandoned warehouse covers the entire plot. It offers sufficient surfaces and sizes for the development of their personal project.

The concept is simple: to work on the void. By creating a patio at the entrance and a garden at the back, the project can develop the necessary and sufficient facade surfaces to bring natural light into all the living rooms, entirely glazed. By adding a floor in the existing template, we provide the additional floor areas necessary for the program, while promoting the compactness of the whole and thus ensuring better energy performance. More fundamentally, this work allows the restoration of open spaces and the block is considerably aerated.

The structure is mixed: slab and floor in reinforced concrete for thermal inertia, spans and the absence of finishing, steel posts fully integrated into the insulated walls, steel frame entirely made with the elements of the existing dismantled frame.

Inside, the floors were made of rammedearth and the walls were plastered with clay, two totally circular products, made from the unpolluted and undisturbed excavated earth of the urban sites of Brussels. The terrazzo terrace slabs are made from reused materials (dismantled facades).

The workshop is covered with galvanized corrugated sheets selected for their low cost, longevity and ability to reflect solar heat. The same criteria determined the choice of anodized aluminum frames. The industrial language is a deliberate nod to the workshop’s past.

AMBROISE

juin, 2022

AMBROISE

Co living Ambroise

Description: Transformation and renovation of an appartement building into a Co living house.
Type of project: Housing – Co living
Type of customer: Private
Department: Transformation and renovation
Location: Uccle, Brussels (BE)
Surface area: m²
Year: 2020-2022
Contractor: MP Instal sprl
Stability engineers: Verhelst engineers
Siteweb: maisonambroise.be

Pictures: Delphine Mathy

The AMBROISE project starts with a meeting between two buildings within the same plot: a Brussels house, with a very elaborate facade on the street frontage, and a warehouse with an industrial character inside the block.

Driven by a project that could keep this link, the owners engaged in a programmatic and spatial reflection aiming at creating links between the occupants, and allowing to increase their quality of life in the city.

By re-imagining and transforming the spaces of the front house within its existing boundaries, it was possible to create a 6-bedroom co-living space. The community has an important place in the project but the process starts with the quality of the private space, for which nothing has been neglected. Therefore, special attention is given to acoustics, materials and design. All the rooms have a generous surface, are accompanied by a shower room, a private toilet, an office corner and vintage furniture.

The top floor under the roof is a common space connected to a large terrace.

The choice of clay plaster for the interior walls, from BC Materials, offers a warm and sustainable character, providing an intimate and natural cocoon in the mineral context of the city.

The project echoes an eco-responsible approach.