VERS.A . photos: © Stijn Bollaert
The project concerns the construction of a small apartment building and the development of the square adjacent to the future building at the corner of Rue Vandenbroeck and Limauge in Ixelles, Belgium. The project deals with the issue of an unbuilt corner of a block and the insertion of a new building in a street strongly influenced by neoclassical architecture.
The scale (R+3) and the shape of the building seek to align with the existing building in a desire for dialogue and harmony with the context. The new building includes a bicycle storage on the ground floor and two flats on the upper floors (a one-bedroom flat on the first floor and a three-bedroom duplex on the second and third floors).
In the manner of a pretence, the project plays with neoclassical writing, interprets it and diverts it in a desire for mimicry that avoids the trap of pastiche. The reinterpreted codes are: overhanging cornices, continuous bands, verticality of the bays, ironwork railings, edges. This architectural expression gives the impression of a quasi-historical existence of the building. However, singularities (loggia, balcony, larger bay) disturb the reading and understanding of the building. These singularities respond to programmatic imperatives as much as they allow the building to be anchored in its time.
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