Residential Siegelsmarkt

But what is even more beautiful than the massive blaze of color of rows and rows of lowbush trees is a simple orchard enclosed by hawthorn hedges or brick walls, with a few well-placed standard fruit trees, such as we still sometimes see at old farmsteads or castle estates. In summer, as natural umbrellas, they bring shade and coolness to gardens and homes. In autumn we can pick their fruits, or animals feast on them, after which they turn intense colors again, ending in jagged leafless silhouettes that stand out against a cold sky. What could be better, than living around a fruit orchard?

With our design proposal we want to reintroduce the characteristic Haspengouw landscape to the site, and organize living there around a sloping fruit orchard, in a coulisse landscape with avenues, hawthorn hedges and rows of houses.

In doing so, we follow a clear pattern based on the natural relief and sloping contour lines, which serve as the basis for a trail network that connects all corners of the district. This way we create a flexible framework of building fields, which can be filled with a catalogue of housing types according to (possibly changing) housing needs.

We are creating a neighborhood that reaches out to its surroundings, inviting itself, but connecting itself to the collective play and meeting spaces along the fruit trail. We design robust, affordable architecture that knows its place in the landscape, but still has enough distinctiveness and identity to appropriate the home.