VALDUC

septembre, 2025

VALDUC

Filling the Gap: Living in the Heart of the Block

Description: New Constructions in Auderghem

Partners of collaboration: GNS Architects
Type of project: Residential
Type of customer: Private
Department: New Construction
Location: Auderghem, Brussels (BE)
Year: 2022 – 2025

pictures: Delphine Mathy

The project is composed of three distinct volumes, each designed in relation to its context and use, with adapted volumetric choices and materials.

On the street front, the first building fills the gap with a three-storey structure (ground floor + 2 + roof). The open ground floor forms a generous passage that provides access to the site, maintains visual transparency towards the interior courtyard, and creates breathing space in the narrow street. On the upper floors, two two-bedroom apartments benefit from living rooms facing the street and recessed terraces, while the top floor accommodates a studio under the roof with a terrace oriented towards the gardens. The façades and roofs align with the neighboring building, combining red-beige brickwork with aluminum frames and off-white lacquered metalwork.

The second volume, along the party wall, provides five covered parking spaces, arranged diagonally around a maneuvering area and sheltered by a greened metal canopy.

At the back of the plot, the third volume houses two single-family homes (188 m² each). Their three-sided layout, shallow floor plan, and large windows maximize natural light and foster a strong relationship with the gardens. Successive façade setbacks break down the volumes and create areas of privacy, while the side façades are blind at upper levels to protect neighbors’ privacy. The use of white matte glazed brick and lacquered steel emphasizes a luminous, monochrome character and helps reduce the visual impact within the block.

The landscaping strengthens this architectural approach: the demolition of the former parking structures opens up the site and allows the lowering of certain party walls in agreement with neighbors. A planted pedestrian path structures circulation and creates a convivial atmosphere.

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.