VANDEUREN III & IV
BETWEEN MEMORY AND MODERNITY
Winner of the Be-Exemplary Award 2019, Vandeuren III and IV is part of an ambitious renovation strategy for social housing in Brussels.
The project transforms 160 dwellings into 132 reconfigured units, while integrating shared facilities and reorganising outdoor spaces. The intervention combines heritage preservation, quality of use and circularity, enhancing the existing fabric while responding to contemporary needs.
REHABILITATING HERITAGE WITH CARE
The project concerns seven of the thirteen buildings of the Vandeuren housing estate, designed between 1928 and 1935 by Joseph Caluwaert. Characterised by an eclectic style, these buildings feature refined front façades and sober yet harmonious rear elevations.
This homogeneity, rare in Brussels, guided the intervention: restoring and enhancing the ensemble while adapting the dwellings to current standards. The design balances conservation and transformation, limiting demolition and optimising circulation and natural light.
Two Blocks Treated According to Their Specific Contexts
Block III presents a coherent ensemble of buildings from the same period. The project allowed this ensemble to be enhanced and its original character restored. On the rear façades, new balconies, metal terraces and recessed rooftop extensions improve habitability without compromising the original aesthetics.
Block IV, on the other hand, is embedded in a heterogeneous environment that has already been partially renovated. It adopts a contemporary architectural language through the use of white glazed ceramic tile cladding, in dialogue with the white façades renovated during earlier phases by the MDW architecture office.
This approach creates a homogeneous landscape visible from the surrounding dwellings. Black metal balconies are added to provide each unit with high-quality outdoor space. On the ground floor, the dwellings benefit from terraces protected by carefully integrated vegetation.
OPEN AND COLLECTIVE BLOCKS
Beyond the renovation of the buildings, both blocks have been reimagined as lively spaces, open and permeable to the neighbourhood. Enclosed gardens give way to open circulation paths, encouraging active mobility and urban interaction.
Programmatic diversity further enriches this dynamic: a laundry room, a digital space, a homework school and the historic cultural hall ‘La Goutte de Lait’, which regains its original function.
CIRCULARITY AND SUSTAINABILITY AT THE HEART OF THE PROJECT
Vandeuren III and IV integrate circularity as both a construction and social principle. Existing materials are systematically reused:
+Floor joists are reused in the timber structures of rooftop extensions and various outdoor installations.
+Cement tiles and other materials are incorporated into the finishes of shared spaces.
+Bricks from demolished walls are reused in gabions and as floor finishes in certain rooms.
+For outdoor landscaping, kerbs and paving stones are sourced from the second-hand market.
Resource and energy management aims for a considered reduction in demand, with particular attention to the most vulnerable households.
Greening strategies and green roofs enhance biodiversity, while rainwater is managed in the open through swales, infiltration basins and dry riverbeds.
TOWARDS A SOCIAL AND URBAN MODEL OF RENOVATION
Vandeuren III–IV goes beyond the environmental dimension to fully embrace social and urban challenges. The block becomes a framework for mobility, services and conviviality, connecting the memory of its construction with contemporary needs.
The project demonstrates how rehabilitation can sustainably reinvent social housing, reconciling heritage, habitability and sustainability through a sensitive dialogue with the urban fabric.
