Residential quarter "Klein Bijgaarden"

This new residential area is located alongside Bergensesteenweg: a very busy road which connects traffic with Brussels and therefore accounts for the rather low experiential quality of the site. The rear of the site, on the other hand, connects with the Zuun brook. The Zuun brook valley is part of a restoration and landscaping project designed to offer a solution to the regular flooding to which the region is subject. We took this opportunity to reorient the site and effectively turn its back to the main road.

The master plan comprises a local adjustment of the river bed, creating space for reinforcing the natural habitat and creating a nature park. This topography is extended to the main road and forms the semi-rural framework for the new residential zone. 

The zone is built up around two centrally located clusters of land-bound residences, a row of solitary and higher buildings at the edge of the brook valley and a connected volume between the zone and the road. The solitary buildings are arranged as a function of the views from the residential zone over the brook valley. The building on the road forms a meandering wall: on the one hand of the same scale as the road, on the other of that of the surrounding construction. 

This building – which comprises shops, offices and apartments – consists of a chain of volumes with a uniform façade treatment. The programmatic differences are translated on the outside by means of small deviations in the surrounding façade pattern. The use of materials – cement fibre boards and sheet aluminium – makes reference to the surrounding aesthetic of the main road, while the well considered detailing is refined as a function of the residential character of the building. 

The programme, functional character and exterior view of this building are all oriented towards achieving universal quality. The building has only sides and is thereby a considered response to its special position within the residential zone.