Description

This project converts the former 1960s Assubel headquarters into a residential tower. Disrupting the urban fabric of warehouses on Brussels’ former trading harbour, the building runs between the ancient docks and the Rue du Canal. The existing tower structure was preserved and extended with three floors, totalling 16. It stands next to a minimal underground parking lot shared with a five-storey building on the Rue du Canal that connects smoothly with the neighbouring row houses. It features spaces for parking 170 bicycles and 50 cars. The ground and first floors accommodate office spaces to the north and south.

In between, a double‑height access hall serves the main vertical distribution core, left in the original position. Given the preservation of the south stairwell, the floors are organised around a central corridor with apartments on both sides. They are complemented by new, 1.8-m-wide terraces running the length of the east and west façades. The dwellings range from studios and one-bedroom apartments to large apartments up to four bedrooms, and two top-floor penthouses. Preserving the existing structure offers unusual ceiling heights of more than 3 m. The concrete façade was removed and replaced by a white secondary steel structure containing balconies lined with white, perforated sliding panels.

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