192GOU
Renovation of a modernist building with 378 flats while occupied: replacement of balconies with insulation of the envelope and creation of facilities on the ground floor.
Built in 1976, the folded building on Rue des Goujons stretches 95 metres and originally housed 378 families. Conceived as part of a modernist redevelopment of Cureghem, it ultimately remained an isolated high-rise whose radical form breaks with its surroundings by following the ancient bed of the Senne.
The recent renovation — prompted by deteriorated balconies — becomes an opportunity to rethink the building’s identity. New prefabricated concrete terraces run along the façade, offering generous outdoor spaces and restoring panoramic views with minimal disturbance to residents. Their weaving geometry creates a rhythmic play of light and shadow, while the thickening parapets provide comfort and a renewed sense of protection. This double progression culminates in the major fold that anchors the tower in its landscape and reasserts its sculptural presence on the Brussels skyline.
Beyond energy upgrades, the transformation includes a reactivated ground floor: three former dwellings have given way to neighbourhood facilities — a gym, a community room and an expanded health centre — reconnecting the building with its immediate context.
Unique in form and intent, Goujons expresses the buried course of the Senne through its constrained, geological fold — a typology shaped by its site, where architecture becomes both memory and topography.
