By acquiring two and a half hectares of former pastureland in Anderlecht – at the corner of Rue Delwart and Rue des Trèfles, not far from the ring road to the west – the Fonds du Logement intends to create a new, sustainable neighborhood from scratch. To this end, a master plan was devised, including roads and three separate blocks, with a total of 466 housing units. At first glance, the urban planning proposal may seem curious, extremely dense, and somewhat disconnected from the context.

In response to the 2020 call for tenders, we are responsible for designing the architecture of the second block, which consists of 159 housing units, a bicycle workshop, communal spaces, and retail areas. The various design tasks have been naturally divided among the team members: HBAAT is handling the design of the rear section, in relation to the existing school, while MDW is in charge of the section facing the boulevard.

The future street running through the area is expected to carry significant traffic, and the part we are working on is particularly long. In our view, the issue of scale is crucial to the success of the project, and we are addressing it using two strategies:

Firstly, in order to break up the horizontal expanse and reduce the sense of length, we decided to take advantage of the site’s gradient. This resulted in the creation of five analogous entities – subtle variations on the same theme. In this way, we clarify the addresses and entrances, while maintaining a consistent materiality throughout.

Secondly, we chose to distinguish two readable scales in the facades, each responding differently to the surrounding context. The foreground consists of a concrete colonnade with various textures. The columns alternate between round and square, smooth at the bottom and rough at the top. These elements possess a scale that engages with the city.

The façade is "inhabited" throughout, with objects placed by the residents – furniture, plants, linen – between the colonnade and the background, made of breeze-block with wooden joinery. This layering of appropriable spaces presents a more domestic scale, in direct dialogue with the neighborhood.

The organization of the apartments follows three main principles: firstly, through-apartments, accessed by walkways, align along the boulevard. In addition to private terraces to the south, the walkways also serve as communal terraces that overlook the garden. Inside, the living rooms enjoy maximum sunlight, while the bedrooms offer the calm of the interior courtyard.

Secondly, the corner buildings are treated as exceptions. Their communal spaces activate the ground floor, serving as an interface between the project and the neighborhood.

Finally, a transitional building in the southwest houses interlocking duplexes with private gardens both within the block and along the street, acting as a mediator between the public and private spaces. The goal is to offer urban-style apartments on the boulevard side, while townhouse-like typologies are located at the rear.