Peterbos 9 Housing Renovation

Peterbos as a neighbourhood is located on the outskirts of the Brussels region. It is the largest social housing site of the region, with a typical but very problematic context of social exclusion, crime and so on. The programme is 100% social housing, with few neighbourhood functions still present. At the same time it is a beautiful site on a long slope, where the concept of towers and slabs in a parc is very apparrent. This gives the apartments the quality of having a proximity to the green environment in which the mainly concrete-and-brick buildings are nested.

We proposed and insisted on executing the renovation with an "occupied site" to avoid the need for a complete relocation of the residents given the fragility of the context, and in regard to the difficulty and time necessary to rehouse all the families. In addition we radically opened up the ground floor to allow more flexibility and visibility for supporting functions. We worked as much as possible from the outside, tailoring the interventions to this concept to allow for a more sustainable renovation with great added value at a cost significantly lower than the cost of a new construction. For the client, it allows to create a greater number of well renovated and transformed homes with the same budget. For the resident, it allows for an increased sense of care and appreciation given the new generous and comfortable home available within the existing familiar environment. For the neighbourhood it allows for reactivation of community and revalidation of shared services.

During the process of designing and building the project, as architects but also together with engineers, contractors and suppliers, we strived to limited the amount of material put into the project. Also, the amount of different materials and elements was kept limited to keep a simplicity in the project. This was not only an architectural choice but it limits the complexity of the construction > limiting construction time > reducing impact. The concrete prefabricated elements have been reworked to use as less concrete as possible. When arriving on site, they were preassembled with the railings, to allow them to act as a working platform during the construction site. For the facade elements, aluminium elements and finishings were used in there more basic possible form. The windows frames and wintergarden panels were proposed in a light and low-tech solution. In general, all material choices have been made together with the building manager with a focus on low maintenance.