192 Affordable Homes Encourage Greater Social Interaction Between Residents
In the early 2000’s Paspoel Anders was a poorly constructed and maintained estate comprising of 192 homes in 3 tower blocks in an ‘end-of-life’ condition. Faced with the choice of either demolishing the housing estate or renovating it, the Flemish Ministry of Housing chose the former, bolstered by our client’s ambition to dramatically improve the troubled estate’s social equity and quality.
Our competition winning scheme proposed to replace the towers with medium-rise blocks and low-rise terraces to create a human scale environment with a variety of places for play and social interaction. The layout and phased construction of the new proposals was conditioned by two key requirements: archeologists consider the site to be a Roman site of international importance so large areas of open space had to remain ‘untouched’ and all residents would remain on site throughout the redevelopment process.
The project was therefore reorganised in phases in order to introduce a new, inclusive civic space, communal gardens and a pedestrian street through the centre animated by regular front doors. Private balconies for each unit and external common circulation spaces give residents views over-looking gardens and these active, shared spaces. The courtyards, gardens and stepped entrance spaces define a clear set of thresholds between public and private. A vital new community centre - for residents and visitors - is positioned in the heart of the plan.
- Paspoel Anders
- BE, Tongeren
- Client
- Woonzo
- Programme
- 16,500 m2 residential space, 110 m2 community centre, 130 underground parking spaces\
Site area: 1.6 ha\
Workscope: Commission\
Status: On-going\
Building costs: EUR 23,000,000
192 Affordable Homes Encourage Greater Social Interaction Between Residents
