THE SIXTH BLOCK

Masterplan, landscaping and social housing renovation Bruxelles, 1000

Beatrice Zago. Diploma project with Professor Frédéric Bonnet.

The site is located in the western part of the central area of the pentagon. We can also define the buildings that are now occupying the space, the 5 social housing blocks, the sport hall and the community center. The project rely itself on a research about what inequality means in a social housing neighborhood. Focusing on what is a common situation happening in the post war social housing areas I’ve encountered the main aspects that causes issues based on security in the public spaces. I’ve identified the problematic blind spots and analyzed what are the most common paths people take to cross the site. So what can we do to create an inclusive public space?

I’ve started drawing a connecting line throughout the site that then developed into the changing of shades in the pavement, to have a sort of fil rouge that could connect all the exterior spaces and to have a base in which draw what will be my social activators. These activators need to be diverse, so that’s why the exterior is working with specific zones and the interior adds up the missing functions on the ground floor. Together they create an environment of connection and community that allows the complete use of the space. The first thing that I’ve looked into are the playgrounds, that allows a very extensive use of the space. A very clear specificity I gave to the sport playground is the use of a court in a more open and accessible way, giving different sports area and allowing relax in the court opens up to the inclusivity issue that is very much found in the fenced normal basketball court. The second focus area is the children playground that allows the accessibility to different ages and confront itself with the nearby primary school to give a wider play space for the children. The vegetable gardens is connected to the communal kitchens on the ground floor. The last step of creating this exterior space was to build different places to perform, these stages are performative areas where the individual give the identity to the space. I’ve then added a new building that hosts community activities such as study halls and library. The question of visibility can be given by the new facades of the buildings. The aim of the buffers is to create different directions in the urban space and new situation of discovery. Each apartment has a series of moving walls that allows the best functionality of the interior, to make it suitable to anyone. As we can see one thing I’ve focused on is the openness of the kitchen as in some cultures the kitchen is a very important space of intimacy for women so the open kitchen would not be proper.