Description

This co-housing project is located on a plot of land connecting two streets in the lower part of Forest. The design completes the urban block with buildings that extend the built alignments on both streets in height and depth. The heart of the project lies between these volumes: a large communal garden. In addition to the garden, the residents share common amenities such as a laundry room, a large polyvalent room with a kitchen, and an underground garage for 80 bicycles and 27 cars. Moreover, the ground floor includes three commercial spaces that accommodate an architectural office, an energy consultant, and a day centre for elderly people. The two buildings show a similar design. Each building has a vertical core that serves very wide exterior galleries – 2.4 m – on the first and fourth floors on the street side. These galleries serve duplexes, while simplexes are grafted directly on either side of the cores. All the dwellings are through apartments and have a large terrace. On the first floor, these terraces are linked to the garden by a private staircase. The dwellings were delivered offplan and the interiors designed individually by the inhabitants. The façades are clad in grey aluminium with vertical joints, while balconies are made of galvanised steel and the galleries of unstained wood.

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