ANALYSIS | Location
ANALYSIS | Spatially, the residential area of Masui is enclosed by the railways in the east, the Manhattan area in the south, the Groendreef and industrial zone in the west, and the Sibelga site in the North. This results into an isolated piece of the city which has little to no links with what lies beyond the borders. | In order to decrease this feeling of isolation and increase the public quality of the site, we will remove the western border. In this way, we will be able to create a link with the future activities on the industrial strip.
ANALYSIS | In terms of productivity, the neighbourhood has quite a lot to offer. The Masui quarter holds a lot of economic activity. The residential area offers a wide range of locally based shops, restaurants, bars, ...
ANALYSIS | Although the industrial zone situated next to the Masui area houses productive activities, it becomes clear that this offers no value to the neighbourhood whatsoever. These kind of industries - steel and concrete companies - consume a lot of space, but have a very low employment rate. Nevertheless, this area is in need of employment; the employment rate is high and the opportunities low.
INTENTIONS | The majority of economic activities in the Masui quarter operate on a local scale. This provides the inhabitants with jobs, and is therefore to be maintained - and intensified. As mentioned before though, the industrial activities have no benefit for the inhabitants at all, since it has no link with the neighbourhood, except for noise, a lot of traffic and an enormous amount of lost space. The situation in terms of employment is quite similar. Our aim is to create a higher employment rate on the industrial site and employ mainly local inhabitants.
INTENTIONS | Heyvaert is a highly congestive neighbourhood in the south of Brussels, near the Caves of Cureghem. This part of the city, situated on the border between Anderlecht and Sint-Jans-Molenbeek, is nowadays claimed by secondhand car business. The presence of this car industry, which is mixed among the local houses, is nowadays an obstacle for the living quality in the area. | Because of the noise and traffic issues that these
kind of activities entail, we think zoning is a suiting solution. However, we find that moving the whole lot outside of the city is not the most interesting approach because this business has an important local factor. Instead, by moving the secondhand car business into the Masui neighbourhood, though in a separate zone, we aim to improve the efficiency of the system, while offering a new productive activity which can stimulate and attract inhabitants of the area.
DESIGN | To design this productive platform, we wipe off all present industry and start again from scratch. We use a grid of 10x10m which is very suitable for the storage of cars, because six cars can be parked on this square, taking into consideration the possible size of structural elements of the buildings. Through this scheme, we draw an axis which acts as an organising structure through the site and also allows the area to breathe by creating open space. The streets perpendicular to the Groendreef are extended to provide a view from inside of the residential neighbourhood.
DESIGN | We selected several interesting structures or buildings on the site which will be kept, either because they look good, have a useful structure, or organise the space in a very efficient way. On strategic locations, public spaces are added, which allow the dense structure we have in mind to be able to breathe.
DESIGN | We selected several interesting structures or buildings on the site which will be kept, either because they look good, have a useful structure, or organise the space in a very efficient way.
INTENTIONS | In addition to the program of Heyvaert, other functions will be added to the site, to attract social activity and create a social platform as a link between the residential area and the newly added car business. | Another element we will change is the import-export system. Nowadays, both import and export of Heyvaert are organised by trucks. Nevertheless, the canal offers the opportunity to reduce the use of trucks by using boats.
DESIGN | Before
DESIGN | After
DESIGN | The general system consists of buildings of two levels high. The circulation system - both for cars and people - is situated at the outside of the building. This way, we create big open space structures, which can be used in an efficient way for car storage. On the inside, the buildings can be divided into several smaller companies. Each dealer or shipment agency can rent it’s own piece of the site. | The first floor can be reached by ramps (by car) or stairs and elevators (by foot). The elevators are stuctural elements in concrete which support the weight of the ramps and the stairs.
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MSI Siedlung Productif
Focusing on a part of Brussels, the challenge was to construct an idea of how we could work towards a productive city.
(In collaboration with another student.)