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October/November 2019

Special Edition: Collective Housing 280

5 Editorial Lisa De Visscher, Stefan Devoldere, Peggy Totté

Opinion 6 Housing block: the helplessness to design the collective Erik Wieërs

Projects 8 Collectief Noord, De Drukkerij, Gitte Van den Bergh 14 Wim Depuydt, Cohousing dsDS, Joep Gosen 24 Havana, De Schilders, Sint-Amandsberg Guy Châtel 30 stekke + fraas, Brutopia, Forest Peggy Totté 36 mvc – anno, Hof Ter Beemt, Zingem Sara Vermeulen 40 Denc!-studio – blaf, Waasland, Sint-Niklaas Gitte Van den Bergh 68 ectv, Jean, Sint-Amandsberg Jolien Naeyaert 72 ura, ’t Wisselspoor, Leuven Lisa De Visscher 78 Trans – msa – v+, Dockside, Molenbeek Pieter T’Jonck 82 Epoc, Tivoli, Laeken Véronique Boone 86 Bovenbouw, Zilverlaan, Ostend Stefan Devoldere

Photo essay 51 Brecht Van Maele

Subjects 18 Collective housing as urban building stones Glenn Lyppens 46 Cohousing without community? Ruth Soenen 62 Cohousing: architects as programme and process directors? Pieter T’Jonck 92 Re-allotment dialogues Oswald Devisch, Barbara Roosen and Liesbeth Huybrechts 102 Cooperative and innovative dwellings in Zurich Peggy Totté

Interview 96 em2n Lisa De Visscher

C OLLECI EF P ARCO URS 2 Biographies a+280

Véronique Boone Joep Gosen Barbara Roosen Gitte Van den Bergh is a lecturer at the Faculty of is an architectural engineer. He is an architect doing research obtained a master’s Architecture La Cambre – is a writer and photographer of and teaching at Hasselt degree in Dutch-language Horta at Université libre de architecture and landscapes. University. Her main research cinematographic, theatrical Bruxelles (ulb). She teaches In 2016 he created a series of topic concerns collaborative and literary arts in 2011. In 2015 history, theory and criticism images on architecture in the urbanism and mapping in she obtained a master’s degree of architecture, as well as the Kempen for the Ar-Tur centre suburban contexts. in architecture and cinema as conservation of twentieth- for architecture in Turnhout. an architect at the University century architecture. Her Ruth Soenen of Antwerp. She has worked at research focuses on the modes of Liesbeth Huybrechts obtained a master’s in re-st since 2016. Until 2018 she representation and reception of is Associate Professor Educational Sciences and a was a member of the editorial modern architecture, on which and works in the areas of phd in Social and Cultural board of a+. she publishes regularly. participatory design and spatial Anthropology. She is a senior transformation processes in ethnographic researcher Brecht Van Maele Guy Châtel the Arck research group at specialized in the study of started photography in 2006 is an architectural engineer Hasselt University. She also everyday life. She is the owner and works for the leading and a senior lecturer in co-founded the living lab ‘The of the research and consultancy newspapers De Standaard and De architecture in the Department Other Market’, a platform for office Simply Community, Tijd, among others. Though not of Architecture and Urbanism participatory reflection and where, among other things, an architecture photographer of Ghent University. action on sustainable urban she translates anthropological as such, he is surrounded by futures where work, living and insights into architectural architects in his daily life. Oswald Devisch nature work together. practice. grew up in a single detached Sara Vermeulen family house in the suburbs. Glenn Lyppens Pieter T’Jonck is an architect and art Since he became a researcher is an urbanite, architect, writer is an architect. He writes on historian. She formerly worked at Hasselt University he has and academic researcher. His architecture, the visual arts and as an expert in heritage and been exploring how to make phd-study at the University the performing arts for several adaptive reuse for the Flemish this Flemish dream more of Antwerp focuses on the Belgian and foreign newspapers Government Architect. She livable. Despite of countless robustness of collective space and magazines, and has also currently works as a policy experiments, he has not yet within historical residential written several books. He works officer for the Flemish Heritage found the answer. projects. He currently works for Klara Radio and is a former Agency. for polo Architects/Labs as editor-in-chief of a+. Stefan Devoldere research coordinator. Erik Wieërs is dean of the Faculty of Peggy Totté studied architecture in Antwerp Architecture and Art at Hasselt Jolien Naeyaert is an architect and urban and philosophy in Brussels. He University. As president of the is an architectural engineer designer who works on is currently a senior lecturer at ‘Stadsatelier Oostende’ (from and visual artist, based in the theme of collective the faculty of Design Sciences 2016) and as former deputy and Brussels. She graduated from building and cohousing for at the University of Antwerp, acting Flemish Government the Ghent University (2012) and Architectuurwijzer. She where he teaches architectural Architect (2011–2016) he subsequently studied design brought the exhibition ‘At design. He is a partner and stimulates the quality of the at the kask School of Arts Home. Building and Living co-founder of Collective Noord built environment in . Ghent. Since 2015 she has been in Communities’ from dam architecten. A former editor-in-chief working at Robbrecht en Daem Frankfurt to stam Ghent of a+ (2004–2010), he has architecten. (2018) and c-mine Genk (2017). curated several international Today she is the curator of architecture exhibitions. the exhibition Housing Apart Together on collective housing in Flanders.

A+ Architecture In Belgium!Bimonthly magazine, ISSN 1375–5072, Year 46 (2019) N5 Board of Directors of Advertisers Editorial team CIAUD/ICASD Editor-in-chief Artistic committee ARCHITECTUUR- GEBERIT Lisa De Visscher Olivier Bastin, Chair WIJZER HR-RAIL Deputy editor-in-chief Pauline Fockedey, Philémon Wachtelaer ARMSTRONG NELISSEN Eline Dehullu Nicolas Hemeleers, Vice-chair BUILDING OCCHIO Guest editors Kelly Hendriks, Chantal Vincent PRODUCTS PIERRE LOCALE / Stefan Devoldere, Peggy Totté Véronique Patteeuw, Secretary BEWOOD LOCALE STEEN Production coordinator Hera Van Sande, Geert De Groote Grégoire Maus Ward Verbakel, Members Translation and copy-editing Agnieszka Zajac Olivier Bastin, Dag Boutsen, Patrick Lennon Editorial address Sylvie Bruyninckx, Ernest Allardstraat 21/3 – Paul Dujardin, Benoît Moritz, Graphic design 1000 Brussels Piet Van Cauwenberghe, Kritis & Kritis [email protected] Eddy Vanzieleghem, Font www.a-plus.be Ward Verbakel Next & Starling Printing A+ is a publication of CIAUD/ Business management Die Keure, Bruges ICASD Information Centre Steven Palmaers Cover image for Architecture, Urbanism BLAF and Denc!-studio, and Design. Exhibitions and conferences

Cohousing Waasland, Publisher Coordination

Sint-Niklaas © Stijn Bollaert Philémon Wachtelaer Roxane Le Grelle Contents-page image Ernest Allardstraat 21/3 – Lara Molino URA, Wisselspoor, Leuven 1000 Brussels Copyright CIAUD/ICASD Copyright CIAUD/ICASD Communication Every efort has been made Articles are the sole Manager

to trace copyright holders responsibility of their authors. Louise Van Laethem and to obtain their permission All rights of reproduction, for the use of copyright translation and adaptation Ofce Manager material. The publisher (even partial) reserved for all Deborah Schwarzbaum apologizes for any errors or countries. omissions and welcomes these Publicity management A+ Media being brought to his attention. Rita Minissi, [email protected] Tel +32 497 500 292 Ernest Allardstraat 21/3 1000 Brussels a+280 41 Strategic collectivity

Gitte Van den Bergh Looking for neighbours, resident Elke organized a first information session on Cohousing Waasland in 2011. Thanks to the support of Samenhuizen vzw, the initiative was able to grow and in 2016 five residents appointed Blaf Architecten and Denc!-studio after a competition. An intensive process of co-creation generated a concept in which a mix of types results in a compact project that sets out to protect the open space. © Brechta V n Ma ele 42 Denc!-studio – blaf a+280

The search for a location ultimately led to a plot of land in the Clementwijk², an urban expansion area on the northern edge of Sint-Niklaas. The cohousing residents saw their de- sire for an affordable and ecological construction reflected in the vision set out in the master plan that postulates a green, sustainable residential area with about 700 housing units, a park and various collective facilities. For the architects, the preservation of the open space in this new urban environment was central. Unlike demand for ground-level units, blaf and Denc! proposed during the competition a compact volume with a flexible structure. They gradually elaborated the design over the course of an intensive process of co-creation. In addition to four classical ground-level homes, 18 units were ultimately realized in a stacked volume with duplexes and apartments on a lim- ited footprint. The protected volume is rectangular, with neither staggering nor overhanging, the advantage being reduced material use, small energy requirements and a lower construction cost. In terms of stability and acoustics, the architects opted for a massive load-bearing structure made of concrete and sand-lime bricks with large spans. This structure made it possible to create a huge range of types, individually tailored to each resident. In order to avoid cold bridges and complex details, a secondary construction in wood was placed on both the north and south sides to create terraces and a gallery. Resi- dents were free to choose their own window size, the playful stratification of the wooden construction preserving a sense of unity within these variations. The sustainable cladding with thermally modified wood was extended to the four © Stijn Boll a ert a+280 Waasland, Sint-Niklaas 43 ground-floor units and the collective pavilion. This lends connected to the bicycle line and park promenade, and a the site as a whole a strong sense of identity and distinction. path to the garden makes the site passable. Living streets On the garden side, the interior of the wooden structure and canals further demarcate the site, and traffic is rightly consists of an alternation of terraces and voids, dimensioned directed to a grouped car park on the edge. as desired per unit. The structure of the private terraces The collective pavilion with kitchen, play area and roof allows for more seclusion, but retains interaction with the terrace partly hides the car park from view, and so the three green outdoor space: ‘When you talk about collectivity, buildings together embrace the interior garden with gully, the private sphere may become more important precisely’, sunken seating area, play zones and picking garden. The says Bart Vanden Driessche of blaf. ‘The terraces are not pavilion and the garden make up the engine of the collectiv- screened, but the structure is strong enough to allow resi- ity, but the architects have also organized strategic meeting dents to provide their own screen if they think it’s necessary.’ places. Places used for everyday activities – the laundry area, On the north side, the circulation is defined by v-shaped bicycle shed, letterboxes, compost heap, storerooms – all elements in concrete that create meeting areas. A steel safety feature a slight excess that encourages people to have a chat, net contains window-like openings that give onto the open without turning it into something compulsory. landscape and are also used for removals. All entrances are © Stijn Boll a ert 44 Denc!-studio – blaf, Waasland, Sint-Niklaas a+280

In addition to these collective spaces, the project includes Cohousing Waasland is currently an ‘association of a guest unit. Each unit can also make use of storage space co-owners’. The participatory process certainly stimulates on and in the pavilion, and technical facilities such as the the team spirit; from the start, residents set up workgroups elevator, rainwater pump and circulation pump are grouped around everyone’s field of expertise, and these groups still together. As a result, the living space of the individual units exist today. During the construction phase too, residents is limited, ranging from 80 m² to 165m² gross. ‘It could were asked what they themselves could do. This work meth- certainly be even more compact, but we have already used od gave the architect a novel position, in which his role up the reserve’, Vanden Driessche makes clear. ‘Thanks to mainly consisted in channelling and translating the various the mix of types, young and old can find something to their ideas into an unambiguous concept. liking here and support each other, so that cohousing also implicitly entails the care concept.’

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Architect Programme Procedure Sustainability Denc!-studio – BLAF Newly built cohousing Competition Denc!-studio Website project with 22 private Client Completion denc-studio.be – blaf.be housing units: four Cohousing Waasland 2018 Official project name single-family houses, 18 vzw Total floor area Cohousing Waasland apartments + collective Lead contractor 3,064 m² Location spaces: one community G-build – LAB15 Budget Sint-NiklaasLANGSSNEDE house, one guest house, Structural engineering € 4,500,000 LANGSSNEDE a technical room (with a SEC (excl. VAT and fees) heating network) and a Building physics bicycle storage Denc!-studio

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