From scales in coloured zinc to graciously bent wood, from the delicate tracery of façades in white metal to ancient brick floors recalling an industrial past, Docks Bruxsel is a lively combination of the shapes and materials that characterise the city.
Studio name: ArtBuild Architects
Design team: ArtBuild Architects
Area: 66.462 m²
Year: 2016
Location: Brussels, Belgium
Client: Equilis
Engineering: TPF Engineering
Mobility: ARIES Consultants
Quality surveyor / BREEAM certification: SECO
Acoustic: VENAC
Main Contractors: BESIX, BPC
Construction Manager: Abssis
Photography credits: Georges de Kinder
A new urban district in itself, Docks Bruxsel teems with thriving businesses, leisure facilities and shops housed in some eight different buildings including the historic Indiennerie Godin or Godin stove workshops, all connected by a series of squares and streets.
A sequence of public areas combines to reinvent the strolling experience which defines the shopping centre, all the while healing a rift in the urban fabric.
Sheltered from the elements by a semi-hermetic glass canopy, these generously proportioned areas benefit from natural ventilation and lighting to become a fluid spatial transition between the lower and upper reaches of the site.
Plants are an ever-present feature, while large glazed gaps provide a visual connexion with the city, offering views over the waterfront, the docks’ quays, and the Domaine Royal.
The invisible component of the development is equally innovative: Docks Bruxsel makes full use of the site’s natural resources thanks to green roofs fitted with solar panels, natural ventilation in the pedestrian areas, and heat recovery from the nearby municipal waste incinerator.
