Description
This project is located in Molenbeek, on a square plot with 20-m-long sides. Built as part of a “contrat de quartier”, it includes an apartment building and a small neighbourhood park. The latter is arranged around a pre-existing plane tree that becomes the park’s defining feature. A brick portico with three large gated bays makes the park visible from the street. To the west of the plot stands a five-storey building of 8.5 m width composed of two longitudinal bays. The entrance to the dwellings and the staircase are located in the narrow bay. On the ground floor, a one-bedroom apartment extends to the back with a terrace and a small garden. On the upper floors, two duplexes are organised similarly, except that one goes up and the other goes down. Each duplex includes a living area taking up an entire floor. The wider bay comprises a living-dining and loggia enfilade. This loggia is also linked to the kitchen. At the back, behind the collective staircase, a private staircase leads up (or down) to a floor with four bedrooms and two bath-/shower rooms. Each dwelling has three orientations. The red-brick façades have white mortar joints and trellised-screen openings. The window frames are made of bronze-coloured aluminium, while the loggia railings and the park fences are black.
Exterior view
Interior view
Originally published in: Gérald Ledent, Alessandro Porotto, Brussels Housing. Atlas of Residential Building Types, Birkhäuser, 2023.