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JGE   Community spaces, 2015-2020, Etterbeek (Brussels)

Plans
About

URA is located in Brussels and is characterized by a broad spectrum of projects, varied both in scale and function. 'UR'-the name of the first city- supports a way of working. URA searches for universal, basic typologies and transforms them into a contemporary and precise identity in a specific context. The universal lies within the very specific. URA is led by two partners, Yves Malysse and Kiki Verbeeck.

YVES MALYSSE (°1973) yves.malysse@ura.be

Studied Architecture at Sint-Lucas, Ghent (BE). Worked for Robert Winkel, MVRDV, Bart Clement and Jo Crepain. Visiting Professor at TU Delft (2006-2007) and Academie voor Bouwkunst Rotterdam (2008-2009). Since 2002 he is Jury Member for several Architecture Schools and Institutions in Belgium and abroad.

KIKI VERBEECK (°1974) kiki.verbeeck@ura.be

Studied Architecture at Sint-Lucas Ghent (BE) and Architectural Sciences at KU Leuven (BE). Worked for uapS, OMA, LABFAC, Bernard & Georges Baines and Advisers. Visiting Professor at Sint-Lucas Ghent (2006) and currently teaching at KU Leuven (2010-...). Since 2005 she is Jury Member for several Architecture Schools and Institutions in Belgium and abroad.

COLLABORATORS

Benny Geerinckx (°1975) benny.geerinckx@ura.be
Michiel van der Loos (°1986) michiel.vanderloos@ura.be
Bram Van Sever (°1991) bram.vansever@ura.be
Carmen Vandermolen (°1992) carmen.vandermolen@ura.be
Egon Pollers (°1994) egon.pollers@ura.be
Lisa De Keuleneire (°1995) lisa.dekeuleneire@ura.be
Soetkin Devolder (°1995) soetkin.devolder@ura.be
Jonathan Vanhove (°1993) jonathan.vanhove@ura.be
Vincent Vergote (°1994) vincent.vergote@ura.be
Milène Senden (°1996) milene.senden@ura.be
Tuomas Peippo (°1995) tuomas.peippo@ura.be
Eva Vermeulen (°1997) eva.vermeulen@ura.be
Louis Lories (°1995) louis.lories@ura.be

FORMER COLLABORATORS

Pauline Truyens / Heleen Eskens / Mathieu Jeukens / Sindri Sigurðsson / Jasper Aerts / Eva Lo / Ruth Van de steene / Ana Horvat / Tim Belaen / Maarten Lambrechts / Charlotte Biesbrouck / Felice Van Tieghem / Marius Vaneeckhoutte / Pauline Durand / Florence Mareen / Lisa Van Com / Jonathan Robert Maj / Isaura Doumen / Jeroen Kessels / Diane Engels / Anton Parys / Harold Vermeiren / Wim Dirickx / Alexander Smedts / Adeline de Vrij / Kaat Volckaert / Pieter Burssens / Tom Broes / Garin Boghossian / Jan de Moffarts / Elena Dragu / Dora Freier / Sila Giriftinoglu / Carlota Marchena Lopez / Frederic Karam / Laura Navarro / Pablo Olmeda Puertas / Angel Pérez Rojas / Olivier Roegiest / Sara Rondou / Giulia Scirocchi / Lorenzo Stroobant / Toon Vanobbergen / Gaspard Van Parys / Francis Vanden Baviere / Mira de Middeleer / Sofie Lieben / Sofie Liesenborghs / Andrea Neri / Alessandro Luraschi

Contact

URA

STALINGRADLAAN 100
B - 1000 BRUSSEL
T: +32 (0)2 512 56 36
F: +32 (0)2 512 56 37
info@ura.be
BTW BE 0899 039 352
IBAN BE90 7350 2024 8332
BIC KREDBEBB

JOBS

You can send your portfolio and cv by post. Unfortunately, we are unable to return them. Or you can send in pdf format (max. 5MB) to info@ura.be

We only respond when considering new collaborations.

Text

JGE

Community spaces
Etterbeek (B)
2015-2021
3.000 m²
City council Etterbeek

Consultants

Landinzicht (landscape)
Util (structural engineering)
Hp engineers (technical engineering)
Daidalos-Peutz (consultant)

Photos

Filip Dujardin, Jeroen Verrecht

On an introverted urban plot on avenue d’Auderghem in the municipality of Etterbeek, an intergenerational pool is currently being built with diligence. Social housing, crèche, auditorium, multipurpose foyer, meeting centre, toy library: loose ends are being tied together and connected with the neighbouring school and environment. The urban acupuncture of BXL100 is here becoming a reality. URA won the competition in the context of a sustainable neighbourhood contract.

It is with kid gloves that the architects are intervening in the existing situation. Demolition is being limited, building and topography restructured. The trapeze-shaped wall incision and the fan-shaped crèche and auditorium provide maximum openness and connection with the formal diversity of garden walls and differences in level.

On the western plot border, a former boules club, once designed by Pierre Blondel, has been tactfully converted into a toy library. An indented garden path departs from here – or ends here, depending on your point of view – in the direction of avenue d’Auderghem. A former house, on the one hand, and a new construction, on the other, provide access to the interior area. The ground floor has been kept deliberately porous to draw in the city and to draw the garden out into the city.

The house is being transformed into a meeting place for young parents, and the new construction includes a crèche, social housing and access to the auditorium with a multipurpose foyer on the ground floor. The foyer, the project’s connecting centre, connects the different spaces and levels to each other with the help of some interior and exterior windows.

The concrete shell of the auditorium has been left visible on the ceiling. For acoustic reasons, the walls have been covered with blue felt. Together with the discreet overhead lighting, the royal blue heightens the sense of safety in the heart of this city in the city.

Extract from the text written by Francis Carpentier in the monograph “URA Yves Malysse Kiki Verbeeck, Architectural Projects 2002-2020, published in 2020.