Description

The Cité Moderne was Victor Bourgeois’ first project, when he was 25. It was intended for a housing cooperative founded by  the architect and his brother. The initial plan encompasses 500 dwellings complemented by various public facilities, such as collective central heating and baths. The buildings are organised according to a clear hierarchy reflected in the road structure, with small squares and public gardens. A large green area was imagined around the modernist project to clearly distinguish it from the traditional city. Unfortunately, the whole programme could not be realised (just over half of the planned dwellings were built). Twenty-two different types of housing were planned for the city, of which only fifteen were implemented. At the centre of the composition, the Place des Coopérateurs includes the most emblematic typologies. On its long sides, the houses are turned at a 45-degree angle, allowing each house to have four orientations. At the back, an apartment building features two simplexes on top of two duplexes linked to the commercial spaces on the ground floor. Once again, the angled design multiplies the dwellings’ orientations.

The volumes are resolutely modernist, with slick, white façades on grey-painted bases under flat roofs. Their monochrome aspect is broken by elements such as brick window sills and coloured stained-glass windows.

 

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