Elan - Renovation of 137 social housing units.

The buildings Rue de l'Elan 73-75 and 80-82 constitute a social housing complex of 137 units in Brussels. These buildings date mostly from the 1970s and suffer from numerous difficulties of spatial appropriation, social cohesion and programmatic and technical problems. A clear degradation of the interior and exterior spaces is noticed in the buildings today. Our project advocates respect for this difficult architectural and urban identity and fights against urban anonymity. It aims to co-construct a real identity for the site. Above all, it is a matter of making this project an exemplary renovation of social housing, so that it becomes a real source of individual and collective pride for its inhabitants.

This objective of requalification, identification and renovation involves working on the relationship between private spaces (the dwellings) and public spaces (what surrounds them). 

In line with its immediate environment, both from a material and a structural point of view, the project aims to deal with all scales managing the buildings’ proper integration in the context while improving the living conditions of residents. 

The work of different successive layers makes it possible to gradually mark the transition between the external green spaces and the intimate space of the dwelling while affirming the character and identity of the latter. It is, therefore, a matter of putting in place technical solutions that provide real added value to the spaces’ quality, both experienced and perceived. 

Materially, this translates into simple construction systems and implementation while ensuring the materials’ durability and ease of maintenance.