SHSH

The district of Woluwe Saint-Lambert represents thirty years of urban patchwork. Real estate transactions accumulating over the years, are caricatures of each typological time : originally satellite villages were connected by small road networks, and eclectic architectural styles centred around a shopping district formed the predominant model of development. The bond that unites this eclectic accumulation is the surrounding nature, which embodies the essential qualities of ambience and liveability of what is referred to as ‘the second ring’ of Brussels.

In this context, the program requested by the BRS (Housing Corporation of the Brussels Capital Region) was the provision of 100 apartments of 1 to 4 bedrooms each, and 50 parking spaces.

Our response was to propose a scheme that allows a generous connection between the constructed and natural elements on the site. More than 70% of the site area was left free of buildings, by defining it with three core apartment blocks on the street perimeter which respectively maintain a neighbourly relationship with adjoining and adjacent buildings. Defined voids between the buildings allowed visual access for the public from the street, which facilitated a kind of visual escape to the internal ‘forested island’ that was created.

The implementation of the project utilised the strength of the relationship between the public and private space of the ‘island’ topology, and involved incorporating a technical efficiency through appropriate orientation to maximise climatic benefits, and a functionalist resolution of planning layouts.

Thanks to a conscious rationalization of the structural work making building easy and repetitive, the project provides each apartment living space above the standards imposed by the regulatory authorities. In addition it allowed us to add a winter garden between 15m² and 30m² to each apartment, usable as an extension of the living room in mid-season and as a terrace in summer. All apartments are purposely designed to have either 2 or 3 frontages to the building allowing for cross-ventilation and an influx of natural light, with the aim of enhancing and inspiring a better quality of life for the residents.

Status : Competition

Client : SLRB

Place : Brussels, Be

Architecture : Shin Bogdan Hagiwara, Thierry Decuypere, Jorn Aram Bihain (V+)

Execution : Bureau Bouwtechniek

Structure : BAS

Building Services : Sophia Group

Acoustic : Daidalos Peutz