The team of BOGDAN & VAN BROECK, UTIL Struktuurstudies and Enerdo has won the open competition for the contruction of a collective amenity located along the canal in Brussels as part of the sustainable neighbourhood contract “Autour Leopold II”. The project includes a sport hall, a boxing club, a cafeteria, a crèche and one housing unit.
The project is articulated around 3 main voids: the entrance gallery, the central patio and the suspended garden. Due to their spatial configuration and position within the building, each of them presents specific access modes, light displays and materiality. Structural options have also been made in order to support and enhance these specificities. The gallery improves the porosity of the neighbourhood; moreover it consists in the extension of the sport hall in specific occasions. The patio visually connects the different functions of the project. It constitutes a real middle ground where the cafeteria meets the boxing club, where the crèche overlooks the sport activities. At the upper levels, the suspended garden is the natural extension of the crèche. It benefits from an amazing view on the surrounding urban fabric.