NAVEZ - 5 social units as Northern entrance of Brussels, Belgium | MSA

Headline
This housing project fulfills the local authori4es double ambi4on: to represent the urban revalida4on scheme with a landmark at the entrance of the city and to provide exemplary apartments for large families. The building develops passive bright apartments and establishes a dialogue with the infrastructure and a the heritage neighbourhood. 

General description
Located at one of Brussels main entrances, the building is a social housing opera4on and a flagship project for the new iden4ty of that neighbourhood. The building provides a solid and comfortable basis for families in need and stands with an open angle, welcoming commuters entering the capital. It advocates for a strong desire for architecture for all. This one-piece construc4on closes a steep triangular block, and develops a smooth textured brick façade playing with the light of the ever-changing Belgium sky. This scripture echoes with the surrounding, full of details, art Deco perennial buildings and stands up to the impressive road and railway infrastructure. 

Concept/ Context and strategy
As most projects in Brussels, the building had to face a fascina4ng but difficult context. To face the small, irregular, noisy and mainly northern orientated plot, the building uses key architectural features. It develops long folded apartments around a southern opened courtyard and a complex staircase that intertwines with individual stairs, allowing internal volumetric movements and kilometrical views to the surrounding landscape. The plans ar4cula4ons, intricate as lace-work, and the progressive sec4on, passing from split-level to inverted duplexes, provide all the apartments of this perennial construc4on with light from 4 orienta4ons exposi4on, outdoor spaces, impressive views and numerous spa4al experiences.
Being a visible part of a broader scheme, great expecta4ons, local and regional, were put on the shoulders of this building. An exhaus4ve par4cipa4ve process was followed to establish a dialog with the inhabitants and the different competent administra4ons. It enabled to explain, develop and amend urban and architectural issues, diminishing recurring Brussels’ conflicts and allowing to exceed strict building regula4ons.

Construction/ Materials and structure
Because the building shelters people in need and because social housing shouldn’t be treated differently than more pres4gious building, the project is developed in order to provide a solid basis to live in. The construc4on is comfor4ng and perennial, you can sleep soundly and nails can be banged in the walls. With super insulated envelope, soundproofing, triple glazing, balanced ven4la4on with heat recovery from exhaust air and solar panels for hot water produc4on, the building is passive < 15kwh/m2. The inhabitants comfort and low consump4on are ensured, while they’re s4ll able to open all their windows.
The maintenance costs have been reduced to the maximum by avoiding air condi4oning through calibrated exposure, by allowing natural light in nearly all the spaces and by the absence of an elevator, which the inhabitants didn’t no4ce, their ascension being eased by the spa4ality and powerful views. Special details, avoiding thermal bridges, and on site worker’s forma4ons were developed to assemble the subtle white brickworks in order to obtain this strong but smooth texture to play with light and pay tribute to the heritage art-deco façades of the area.