One continuous park with infrastructure for bicycles and pedestrians

View of the park standing at the foot of the slope. At the back on the right is the entrance zone of the site.

View on the arched shed with the common area on the left.

The entrance square on the Sint-Benedictusstraat is the address of the new residential area.

The large window has a view of the area on the other side of the track.

Sint-Benedictus housing project

Mortsel

There is a deliberate focus on a mix of large and smaller homes and apartments.

The building site is located between a residential area and the large green lobes and corridors in Mortsel. The site mainly was used by the community as a storage and parking space and is nearly entirely paved. We propose to locate the new building on the edges of the plot to create one continuous park with infrastructure for bicycles and pedestrians. The compact new residential area consists of a mix of residential units ranging from single-family homes to even the option of kangaroo living and multi-generation homes in combined units. Modest divisible spaces are integrated in deliberately chosen places, which aim to stimulate collectivity and a sense of community. The terraces are designed as elegant loggias. The facades have a nice balance: on the one hand, there is horizontality that accentuates the long, bent form. On the other hand, the five protruding facade parts with terraces provide vertical accents, recognizability and individuality.

  • Design teamDirk Somers, Matthis Adam and Milan Delbecke
  • LocationMortsel, plot inbetween Sint-Benedictusstraat and Molenstraat
  • Year2022-2024
  • In collaboration withArchitectenbureau Bart Dehaene