However, unlike the image conveyed by the constitution of a city with a fragmented fabric, there exists an urban logic peculiar to this territory which was at the origin of our reflection for the creation of the site of the Remparts des Moines.

The “brusselian” island is resolutely urban and places the will to define the street in the center of its constitution. In opposition to modernist bar architecture, this island qualifies the public space by proposing continuous alignment along its ends. Whatever its scale, we note the constitution of a built crown clearly defining the boundaries between public space and private space. The Brussels islet allows the development of a heart, which, in its form or programming, is part of a much freer logic.

We therefore oriented our work towards the search for a hybrid form, able to synthesize the urban qualities of this island, while injecting a high density.

Thus, while preserving the established boundary thanks to the residential crown, the block core is extracted from the form to come to be placed in the heart of a central public space inscribed in the (urban) logic established by the existing urban routes. With the heart of city liberated, the views from the dwellings are unobstructed on shared gardens and preserve a template on street in harmony with the heights dictated by the context. This is the new island, a kind of brusselian urban form Brussels version 2.0. The aim here is to take the best of each of the typologies requested in the program to define a new one, adapted to contemporary ambitions.

The project is developed around two founding acts. The first is the establishment of two blocks of housing south of the plot, offering an alignment with the street of Boulet, then a second, extending the logic established by the street of Char.

In the north, a peak rises to describe the square Jacques Brel and offering a store that animates this central square of the district. In the center a public space on which develops the gymnasium and associative premises. Just as the island come to rewrite the islands of housing, the gymnasium and the association pavilion come articulate the institute St Thomas D'Acquin by registering it directly in the urban logic of the project. In fact, the public square distributes all the programs of the project and extends over the entire new block.

Once the volumes are in place, the project has become a unique opportunity to imagine a contemporary living environment in which each element can establish a dialogue and complement each other in a balanced way. Thus the project becomes an ecosystem.

Client : Logements Bruxellois – Régie Foncière de Bruxelles / Cost : € 60M excl. VAT / Surface : 53769 m² / Schedule : 2019 - 2025 / Team: MDW architectes (Commissioning architect), LAN (Associate architect)