SWCS

Momentary association

Programme: The project involves the creation of an office and social housing building that is exemplary in terms of sustainability, technical management and energy savings. Designed on the principle of undefined floor plates, these can be reallocated to offices or housing as and when required.

About: Located at the junction of two roads in downtown Charleroi, Belgium, the new building of the «Société Wallonne de Crédit Social» closes the urban block by following the main lines than the surrounding buildings. It is anchored into the site following an ornamental approach which proposes a reinterpretation of the post-modern context.
The project is a tangible element which defines a clear distinction between fix elements (volume, structure and circulation) and variable elements (functions, technical equipments, finishings). Based on a grid allowing the arrangement of a working space or a bedroom, the floor layout is flexible: it can absorb an increasing demand for office spaces or can be converted into housing. In that respect, the project proposes a social diversity in a district characterized by an important number of office spaces.
To do so, the intimacy of inhabitants is preserved by the facade in articulating a peristyle around the building. The threshold is then materialized by the latter, playing with the porosity and the transparency. Somehow, this aspect defines the social purpose of the SWCS in opposition to traditional financial institutions.