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Lakeside, Brussels (B).

The slender cornerstone offers a wide range of views.

B15 — Park Tower is a detached residential building in the Tour & Taxis park, designed as an urban solitary and located at the edge of the future water body. As the first realization at this location, the tower marks the transition between Park Lane and the future Lake Side. The project explores new forms of urban living: compact and centrally located, within walking distance of the Brussels city center, but at the same time embedded in a green, landscape context. The tower seeks a balance between urbanity and homeliness, between shelter and openness.

The location at the intersection of Anna Bochdreef and Maritiemdreef offers strategic views: a panorama of Laeken opens to the west, while the south offers a view of Park Lane and the Gare Maritime. This position at the intersection of urban axes makes the tower a prominent landmark in a zone where perspectives come together and unfold.

The facde is made of dark red precast concrete, a contemporary interpretation of the site's historic brick architecture. The refined detailing matches the rich materiality of Tour & Taxis and reinforces the tactile quality of the building.

The volumetry is clearly structured in three parts: base, body and crown. Each part responds to its specific context — from the park's proximity to the openness of the surrounding landscape.

  • The double-height pedestal contains public functions. Large window openings and covered corners create a soft transition between inside and outside. A public terrace will be provided on the park side; on the side of the Place du Quai is the main entrance to the apartments. These corners function as urban links between public space and the private domain of the home.
  • The body of the tower includes the regular floors. Here, the facade is conceived as a structural grid in precast concrete that introduces rhythm, plastic and shading. This grid mediates between interior and city, and contributes to the readability of the building.
  • The crown is the final piece of the composition and houses the penthouses. Here, the facade takes on a more vertical expression, with spacious outdoor spaces that offer panoramic views. This top section gives the tower a sculptural strength within the urban profile.

The architectural strategy is strongly anchored in the pursuit of quality of living. The facade is not only approached as an aesthetic element, but as a spatial tool. By serrating the volume, each home gets multiple orientations, natural light from different directions and visual relationships with the environment. This spatial layering is not achieved via the interior structure, but via the building envelope — the architecture, as it were, encapsulates living in space.

Park Tower is not a spectacle architecture, nor a repetition of typological conventions. The project presents itself as a nuanced urban gesture: both autonomous and embedded, sculptural and habitable. It asks how architecture can provide a sustainable framework for daily life in a changing urban context.

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Client
Nextensa
Location
Brussels, (B).
Year
2021
 – 
 – 
...
Size
12.300 m²
Status
On going
Team
Hans Caarls
Jan De Bie
Koen Drossaert
Erik van der Werf
Maxime Waumans
Awards
Publications
Photography
Visualisation
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The residential tower is part of a large-scale residential development.

As the only free-standing building, the tower forms a slender cornerstone in the landscape and on the slow connection that runs through the site from south to north.

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The residential tower is part of a large-scale residential development. As the only free-standing building, the tower forms a slender cornerstone in the landscape and on the slow connection that runs through the site from south to north.
The residential tower is part of a large-scale residential development. As the only free-standing building, the tower forms a slender cornerstone in the landscape and on the slow connection that runs through the site from south to north.
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Due to cuts and shifts in the floor plan, all apartments on all floors have corner views of the surroundings. In addition, these interventions add elegance and slenderness to the volume.

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plan ground floor
typical plan 1 (plinth)
typical plan 2 (corpus)
typical plan 3 (crown)
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The design has a primarily vertical expression. In the background, the subtle arrangement in a plinth, a corpus and a crown conveys the urban context.
The design has a primarily vertical expression. In the background, the subtle arrangement in a plinth, a corpus and a crown conveys the urban context.
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The facade panels are designed in such a way that the prefabrication seams are not present in the architectural image.
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Section
North facade
East facade
West facade
South facade
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Rough and shortened research model in function of the design for the facades.
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The covered entrance areas introduce both the houses and the district-related programming of the ground floor. They are spacious portals in a position between the park and the interior.
The covered entrance areas introduce both the houses and the district-related programming of the ground floor. They are spacious portals in a position between the park and the interior.
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Historical reference: entrance to the Manhattan Municipal Building in New York by McKim, Mead & White.