RECONVERSION OF A CONCRETE PLANT INTO A MIXED-USE DEVELOPMENT ALONG THE RIVER SAMBRE IN CHARLEROI | DIRECT COMMISSION FROM THE CLIENT
The site is a derelict brownfield located along the river Sambre at the South-East entrance of the city of Charleroi and flanked by an impressive amount of infrastructure (fly-overs, highway bridges, viaducts). The omnipresent infrastructure and the articulated topography represent a strong potential for the creation of a vibrant neighbourhood. Life on the street is defined and guided by the surrounding buildings in the first place – it is the relationship of these buildings to one another and their means of access and boundaries that, together with a good programmatic mix, will generate a vibrant neighbourhood. Consequently, we used buildings to create and define the shape, the character and the quality of these new urban places.
The River Towers offer affordable quality housing, assuring the social control day and night. From the towers and their connections with the parking garage, people can see the exceptional former mining landscape – we consider it a statement to elevate the citizen above the car in a city with elevated high-ways.
The public space is the driving engine of this project. It addresses both the city side and the riverfront, and invites everybody to discover a new gate to the city and a new point of attraction along the river Sambre.