JARDIN DE LA CIGOGNE

Transformation of a derelict Brussel’s house into a community garden and shared facility

Year ︎︎︎ 2021 - ...
Phase ︎︎︎ Permit
Budget ︎︎︎ 75.000€
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In this typical, charming, narrow street in the Dansaert quarter of Brussels, an abandoned house waited years for a new purpose. On the initiative of the owner, it was decided to make the building a shared facility - a community garden for the benefit of all the inhabitants of Rue de la Cigogne, currently lacking outdoor spaces.

At the same time, the project proposes to remove the less-qualitative later additions of the house in order to reveal its former condition. That way a new green space is accommodated at the back of the plot. Inside the house itself the interventions are precise to bring space and light into this small volume. A kitchenette and a bathroom are plugged onto the renewed vertical circulation with the aim of liberating the floorplan as much as possible. The house is stripped of all claddings: walls are put naked, the wooden structure is exposed over which new floorboards will be placed partly creating punctual openings allowing to see through to the ceiling. On the first floor, the dormer window is reconstructed and completed with a small, semi-circular terrace. The new roof covering is made out of translucent tiles, making the whole house a winter garden whose use and occupation varies according to the outside conditions. The green atmosphere of the rue de la Cigogne is drawn through the house and the new garden, the floor and vegetation continue from the inside to the outside in the form of a concrete floor with cut-outs.