Description
In the north of Brussels, the Villas de Ganshoren form a group of free-standing high-rise buildings built over several decades (1957–1978). The five 20-storey-high cruciform towers at 243 avenue Van Overbeke are among the oldest. They feature a Vertical triangular circulation core with a staircase, two lifts, and a central hall with a central atrium that runs the full height of the tower. On the ground floor, three pass-through entrance halls serve a double-height vestibule, in the centre of which there is a fountain. Two duplex apartments are located at this level: the caretaker’s apartment and a second one coupled with a shop. On the standard levels, each arm of the tripod tower is divided into two longitudinal bays, featuring back-to-back apartments; the largest ones have an additional room on the far side of this division. The standard floor comprises six apartments, ranging from studios to three-bedroom dwellings. All the dwellings have a core of wet rooms close to the entrance and a terrace in the angles of the tripod. The south-facing units have an extra terrace. In addition, the dwellings benefit from storage rooms on the first two floors, and laundry and drying rooms and large communal terraces with canopies on the top floor.
The façades are treated in different registers: rubble-stone walls on the first two levels, white bricks and shock-treated concrete for the other levels. The walls of the terraces are painted light blue.
Exterior view
Originally published in: Gérald Ledent, Alessandro Porotto, Brussels Housing. Atlas of Residential Building Types, Birkhäuser, 2023.