FIDELITE
LOCATION / Brussels, Belgium
CLIENT / Ilôt Sacré_commerce & Ilôt Sacré_habitation
AREA / 5 353 sqm above ground
PROGRAM / Housing
PROJECT / 2008 - 2016
STATUS / Built 2019
Located in the historic centre of Brussels, within the UNESCO protected perimeter, the site consists of three buildings located at 41 47 rue de l'Ecuyer and six houses located at 16-28 rue des Dominicains. Their rear façades meet around a courtyard accessed from Impasse de la Fidélité. The building at 41 rue de l'Ecuyer, the work of Adrien Blomme (1922), is included in the listed buildings, while the façade and the roof of No. 47, designed by Paul Hamesse (1907) are listed too. The houses in rue des Dominicains form a group whose structures date back to the end of the seventeenth century, and are listed in the heritage inventory, as is the building at 45 rue de l'Ecuyer. The group of buildings has been abandoned for at least two decades and requires thorough renovation. The development programme aims to enhance the value of all the retail ground floors, and develop the apartment floors meeting modern requirements for and habitability. To do this, it was decided to make the courtyard lighter by removing the multiple annexes of adjacent buildings and integrating a new vertical circulation core that distributes the apartments at the back of rue de l'Ecuyer and those located on the upper floors in rue des Dominicains. A set of metal walkways provides access from the outside while providing additional emergency exits required by the fire department. The main entrances of the homes were thus concentrated in rue de l'Ecuyer, which enabled rationalisation of the shop space in rue des Dominicains. Street facades have been restored to their original state. From the public space, the work can be seen in a contemporary reconstruction of the roofs that crown the top floor of the "Blomme" with a penthouse. The project covers an area of 1622 m² and will offer 47 housing units in 16 studios, 16 one-bedroom apartments, 9 two- bedroom apartments and 6 three-bedroom apartments with a total gross area of 4074 m². It will also include 1286 m² of shops divided into 9 units and 111 m² of offices.