Description

Located in the Marolles neighbourhood between Rue Haute and Rue Blaes, this social-housing complex replaced a block of a dozen cul-desacs in appalling condition. The project’s ambition was therefore to provide the inhabitants with decent living conditions and modern comforts such as running water and private toilets. The project features seven parallel slabs, oriented north–south and separated by pedestrian alleys, which are connected perpendicularly by passages under arcades. The 1.5 m difference between two successive buildings is used to position cellars that open to the west. Apart from the building on Rue Blaes, which has commercial spaces on the ground floor, the slabs consist of multiple identical units. Each unit features a central staircase flanked by an apartment on either side. The dwellings offer between one and four rooms, completed by a kitchen. They all have two terraces: one running the full width of the apartment on the east side, another leading to an outdoor toilet and a rubbish chute on the west side.

The four-storey-high façades feature a polychromatic play of red, yellow, and white bricks. Blue limestone is used for the base, the sills, and the corners of the windows, while ironwork is found in the terraces and their railings. The roofs of the buildings are flat.

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Originally published in: Gérald Ledent, Alessandro Porotto, Brussels Housing. Atlas of Residential Building Types, Birkhäuser, 2023.