51N4E

De Lork | 30 studios for disabled people . Brussels

51N4E . photos: © Georgios Eftaxiopoulos . © Paul Steinbrück

Permanent home to 30 people, De Lork is organized in small communities. Between the privacy of one’s own room and the communal living& dining, inhabitants are provided with additional spaces for casual socializing: a small garden, a terrace, and the circulation spaces, designed to be perceived and function as proper rooms.

The organization of every floor places all private rooms on the front side to give cues of street life to all inhabitants. The street façade, alternating convex and concave parts, maximizes window surface and viewing angles for the rooms as well as integrating the mass of the building to the small & dense terraced houses adjacent to the plot.
The back of the building bears a peculiarity: it is the fourth (and missing) wing of a cloister garden. A continuous, monumental, largely translucent brick façade covers the back and side of the building. It offers the necessary privacy for the cloister as well as generous light for the circulation and living spaces. Modest but rich in experiences, the building inverts expectations on all levels.

Location Brussels, BE
Project 2005
Projected completion 2012
Client De Lork vzw
51N4E full process
Programme nursing home
Built surface 1.975 m²
Construction cost 2.500.000 €
Project team for 51N4E:
Johan Anrys, Freek Persyn, Peter Swinnen, Aline Neirynck, Kelly Hendriks, Sotiria Kornaropoulou, Jan Opdekamp, Tom Baelus, Bob De Wispelaere, Karel Verstraeten, Joram Van Den Brande, Paul Steinbrück, Emmanuel Debroise, Maddalena Treccani
Structural engineer:
BSTK
Technical engineer:
BSTK
EPB:
BALT
Construction:
Deconinck
Images:
51N4E & Sannah Belzer
Photography:
Georgios Eftaxiopoulos & Paul Steinbrück