Numerous colleges can be found around Saint Mary’s Royal Church in Schaerbeek. As a result, more than 5,000 students and nearly 1,000 professors visit this very dense part of Brussels’ ‘first crown’ every day. However, they are not very visible in the public space and interactions with the neighbourhood should be stimulated. It is with this in mind that the Urban Renovation Contract ‘Brabant-Nord-Saint Lazare’ wants to create a student and community hub directly on Place de la Reine.

Through RenovaS, the municipality of Schaerbeek will therefore acquire the houses located at numbers 14-15 and 16 of this square to create a new multifunctional site open to both students and the inhabitants of the neighbourhood. This space will be a unifying meeting place and will  house a forum, an event hall, multi-purpose spaces, a student information desk and some student housing. The municipality sees this as a unique opportunity to liven up Place de la Reine, which will also be transformed as part of the Urban Renovation Contract.

The square and the site of the Schaerbeek Maison des Arts located at the rear of the houses in question are both classified as remarkable heritage in the Brussels region. The municipality of Schaerbeek wishes to set up a project there that takes this strong character into account to develop a dialogue with the church and Maison des Arts.

This is a complete architecture mission (including engineering, energy performance & indoor climate, and health & safety coordination). The teams are requested to adopt a central and cross-cutting sustainable approach, particularly with regard to the implementation of sustainable materials or reuse, as well as the future adaptability of the building.