Anvers-simons shortlisted for Brussels Horta Architecture Prize

A coloured school, 51 standard apartments, and a childcare facility, the project Anvers-Simons is shortlisted in the category Mixed Use for the for the Brussel’s Horta Architecture Prize !

an
urban
challenge

Set up in a densely populated neighbourhood, the Anvers-Simons project intelligently develops into a complex program while harmoniously integrating into the existing context. This heterogeneous program is integrated into both new constructions and an existing building.
In addition to the substantial program, the challenge of this project is to reintroduce urban coherence into this neighbourhood mainly made up of on one hand closed islands, and on the other new frontal constructions and bordered by high-rise buildings built on open islands.

programmatic
and
architectural
wealth

The different models and variations of openings, thought up from programming requirements and the PPAS (special land use plan) stipulations, enable us to carry out a closed island while creating clear air, visually open from the public area. This part of the town has a uniform whole but also preserving the expression of the different features, a project integrated into the urban landscape without making it run of the mill.
This desire to take place intelligently in an urban environment is translated by careful attention to its material components, the architectural language varies as well according to its destined use.

the
environment
as a
living space

The building endeavours to preserve the prime resources in a sustainable approach (water, air, energy). Part of the roof is vegetated (approximately 900 m²), the rest being used for solar heating panels. Green areas, everywhere that the project allowed, roofs, the school yard and common spaces, preserve the site’s biodiversity. Rainwater is collected and used for supplying the apartments’ toilets and those of the primary school.

However, the physical environment is first and foremost the quality of the air we breathe, which determines the choice of materials used for which the energy cost for production (grey energy) is low like the energy consumption of the building itself. This quality intervenes first for the user at building level due to the air quality controlled by the use of the most healthy materials possible (more than 50% of materials are classed below 3 according to the Nibe standard) and controlled ventilation.

This physical quality directly conditions the inhabitants’ quality of life. The school’s technical plant is controlled via a BMS (Building Management System), enabling its operation to be optimised. Installing meters and a monitoring system enables consumption to be precisely monitored. Lastly, representative of a sustainable approach both social and economic and also environmental, this project is doubly applauded for its energy performances and its overall design as one of 19 Batex for A2M and as one of three pilot projects for passive design by the Brussels region (Pass-reg.eu).

 

Vote for this project here : http://www.pbh.sadbr.be/index.php/vote