This design is an example of a new combination of industry with living in the city. Belgium has a rising mobility problem and as a potential architect I feel an opportunity to help providing sustainable solutions to cope with our mobility challenges. The former site of Infrabel in Gentbrugge was the perfect research area as all the industrial buildings will become vacant in the near future. This will give a lot of potentials to develop an urban village which will be self-sufficcient and implement a wide arange of functions that will give an added value to the neighbourhood.

I have chosen to incorporate a workshop focussing on repairing old household equipment within a residential building. The workshop serves as an example of sustainability which is the focus of this project. There are only limited resources that this earth gives and as potential architects it is our job to maximize the usage of this. Usually the damaged goods that are brought into the building can get a second life as they are repaired by people who have the technical knowledge.The cost for repairing the goods will be significantly lower than what a consumer will pay for a new product. 

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The circular shape of the industrial building reflects the process that every damaged good has to go through when it enters the building. By putting the product belts right after the semi-translucent facade, passengers can see the movement of the different products as they go along the process of becoming a repaired, well functioning good again. Different workshops are placed next to each other overlooking the inner courtyard which is an open relaxing space for the laborers.

The semi-translucent facade which is constructed by corrugated sheets, is also used as an extra visual buffer for the people that are living in the building. They can open or close the sheets which results in a facade that is constantly moving.This process is a repetition of the movement of the different goods through the facade of the industrial parts of the building.

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The floor-area ratio of the building is 4.91 which contains 1/3 of housing and 2/3 of industrial zone. 

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Supervisor: Bram Aerts