Living, working and learning in the productive city

citygate Brussels - a l’île

Biestebroeck was, is, and will be a place of production, initiative and activity. A place where working, learning, living coexist side by side. A place for everyone, a neighborhood for all.

Together with AHA, noArchitects and Sergison Bates Architects, we are working on the Citygate II / Petite Île project in Brussel after a competition won in 2019. Over the next few years, a new district with 400 flats, 15,000 m2 of workspace and a large school complex consisting of several buildings will be developed in Biestebroeck, a former industrial area in Anderlecht. The project is part of the 'Canal Plan' of the Brussels city architect, which specifically focuses on the idea of the productive city aiming at lively and productive city neighbourhoods with mixed programmes for working, producing, learning and living.

clients:	SLRB/ City Dev/ Foyer Anderlechtois
collaborating architects:	AHA (Aurelie Hachez/Elseline Bazin); Sergison Bates Architects SBA; NoA Architects; Korteknie Stuhlmacher Architecten
design team A l’île:	Boom landscape Amsterdam, landscape; Detang, consultant technical installations; Groep D, consultant structural design; Daidalos Peutz, consultant acoustics; ELD, consultant costs and specifications
programme:	ca. 400 apartments; ca 15000m2 workshops; school complex (kindergarden - secondary school); offices
competition:	2019, BMA Brussels
building application:	2021
tender:	2022/ 2023
realisation:	2024- 2027
illustrations:	collaborating architects, with special thanks to Nora Walter and Elke Schoonen (NoA Architects)

Citygate Collage 05 Boulevard Industrielle

The collages from the competition phase showing the most important features of the project and the integration of open spaces and builings: diversity, colour, relationship old and new; living and working; industrial environment and new housing

The masterplan as a whole

The masterplan: the 'Assembled City'

The master plan the design team developed bears the motto 'Ville assemblee' or 'Assembled City' and embraces the blending of living, working and learning. The most important aspect of the master plan is the far-reaching principle that (almost) all programmes and activities are visible and tangible in the street. Buildings for living, learning and working literally stand side by side. Stacking and functional separation, as is usual in the modern city, have largely been avoided.

The school buildings E1, E2, E3, E4, the residential tower T2 and the work building W3 are being elaborated by ksa; the other buildings have been divided among the members of the design team AHA, SBA and NoA

The work on the various buildings has been divided between the four architectural firms. KSA is responsible for the new school buildings (E1, E2, E3 and E4), the fitting out of two floors of the existing industrial building 'Batiment A' for workshops for the school, a residential tower (T2) on top of the main secondary school building (E2) and a new mixed-use building for the housing association 'de Anderlechtse Haard' or 'Foyer Anderlechtois' 'FA' (W3) with social restaurant, offices, workshops underground archives and warehouses which are accessed via the car park. The FA spaces are partly located in the new accommodation and partly neighbouring residential building S3, designed by NoA architects.

In the 'Assembled city', the buildings are juxtaposed and all the programmes are on the ground next to each other. The forms of the buildings are simple; the architecture is refined yet sober; the various buildings become specific through their mutual relationships, their proximity and the spaces, squares, gardens, alleys and passages that are created between them.

Squares, alleys, gardens and the 'expedition mews'

The layout of the new neighbourhood is largely shaped by the history and atmosphere of the place, with old factory buildings and an elevated railway line. In addition, various typological references from Rotterdam and London played a role, such as the typical post-war Rotterdam 'expedition courtyards' and the London 'mews' from the 19th and 20th centuries. These informal urban spaces 'in the second row' are successful examples of mixing living and working in an urban context and serve as examples for the design of the 'expedition mews', the spatial carrier of the new neighbourhood. This lively space with room for both work traffic and pedestrians connects the various parts of the plan.

The main outdoor spaces between the buildings: square, garden and street 1: the 'place de createurs', an urban square bordered by the school and building A, with the small loading and unloading building 'W1' as a block catcher (noA Architects) 2: the 'jardin de Dante', a green inner garden in the western part of the plan area, behind the building W3 3: the southern edge of the area along the 'Boulevard industrielle'

The new neighbourhood is open and permeable and consists of squares, gardens and roads and very different buildings. Maximum accessibility for soft traffic flows is a priority. Working, living, learning and relaxing go hand in hand in the design. There are various facilities such as cafés and sports facilities, including a social restaurant and a climbing hall. In addition, the school library and gymnasium are accessible to the district outside school hours.

The varied facades along the 'expedition mews'

Ecole de Tous: a neighbourhood within a neighbourhood

The new school is conceived as an ensemble of buildings with different layouts, character and functions. The most eye-catching building (E1) has a central position between the most important outdoor spaces, the 'Expedition Mews', the 'Place de createurs' and the more intimate schoolyard 'Place de Tous'. The abstract red-brick volume houses a multifunctional sports hall on the ground floor and the primary school on the first floor. Buildings E3 and E4, connected to building E1 by a public passage, house the library, a large canteen and the 'maternelle', the kindergarten on the first floor. The roofs of the new school buildings are all laid out as playgrounds, with various covers, pergolas and planters.

The 'place de tous', the schoolyard and the heart of the 'école de tous'.

On the other side of the Place de Tous, between the schoolyard and the urban Rue de Goujons, the sturdy secondary school building (E2) is the face of the school to the outside world. It contains a large number of classrooms, a multifunctional forum and the main entrance to the Ecole de Tous. The facades of the building owe a lot to the monumental existing factory building 'Batiment A', which will be partly reused as a residential building and partly as a school. An existing wall fragment will be integrated into the street façade, with several characteristic gates forming the main access to the school and square and the T2 residential tower resting on top of the school's shoulders.

Citygate Elevation 03 Boulevard Industrielle

The outer edges of the neighbourhood are determined on the north side by the monumental building 'A', an existing industrial building that is being reused and upgraded (floors 1 and 2 will be used for the school) and the facades of the school and several residential towers. The façades on the south side consist mainly of residential buildings.

Learning in the city, for everyone- Ecole de Tous

With its various existing and new buildings and its outdoor spaces on top of and between the buildings, the school is a microcosm, a built didactic model and a functional machine. As a pilot project for the new 'Ecole de Tous' concept, the school takes on an innovative role beyond didactic responsibilities. By sharing its facilities with the neighbourhood and opening its various courtyards and gardens outside school hours, it is a "school for all" in the most fundamental and inclusive way.

The project is created in close cooperation with all partners, involving numerous workshops where many design related issues are presented to each other and discussed in detail. Within the team, there is room for both mutual coordination and individual expression and responsibility. As a result, the various buildings bear the unmistakable signature of the different architects, while together they form a coherent ensemble.