The project was a contest for the renovation of a market square combined with a public square in Brussels Saint-Gilles district.

 

This district, in the South of the city, goes from the main train station down in the valley to the highest point of the city, called “Altitude 100”. The entire neighborhood is a steep slope that goes up 80m in less than a kilometer.

Therefore the concept was to give a flat square in this inclined area. The form of the square in also unusual with its two curves opening in front of the Saint Gilles church. The important flow of people on this square (around 10,000 a day) supports a sober intervention and a smart phasing of the construction.
A long bench creates a step between the flat area and the lower side of the square, giving an identity and a unity to the curved parvis.

 

 

My work was to draw a series of historic sketches, based on the Brussels main plan, from the XVIth century till today to analyse the development of the square, and other sketches of the urban surroundings of the parvis today, (here on the left).

I also drew the base map for the main plan. In addition, I realised a 3D model of the square from which we extracted an axonometric and two perspectives views that I reworked on AutoCAD.

 

 

Project Type : Contest