DEVELOPMENT OF A MIXED USE SUSTAINABLE PROJECT IN ANDERLECHT | OPEN COMPETITION ORGANISED BY THE CLIENT, 1ST PLACE
AWARDS Nominated for the Brussels Architecture Prize 2023,
in the category Major Intervention | First prize for Publica Awards 2023 in the category Urban Development, Infrastructure & Mobility | Be.exemplary Brussels 2019: laureate
NovaCity goes far beyond the juxtaposition of functions.
The built spaces are organised, and in return generate, qualitative open spaces hosting a constellation of collective places to inhabit, offering opportunities for encounter, interaction and conviviality.
On the ground floor, the workshops of the SME’s are distributed on both sides of an active street, that constitutes a backbone for daily interactions between the different users. In direct relation with the workshops, a double height of retail and offices offer a transitive interface with the neighbourhood, and share an address with the housing blocks.
Above this plinth, a skyline of various heights animates the visual sequences of a new pedestrian street, and allows natural sunlight to reach the heart of the site.
Diverse collective spaces take place on the roofs of the SME’s, in the voids between five different volumes. A small housing tower articulates the transition from the Chaussée de Mons, and four urban blocks are paired two by two around vertical patios where terraces constitutes a convivial threshold between community and privacy.
Both the housing and SME’s are designed to offer maximal flexibility and adaptability in time and use.
Selected publications: Architectura, De Architect, Architectenweb, Bouwkroniek
