News Published on 03/02/2026

Reservoir A awarded at the Bricks in Architecture Awards 2025

Marcinelle Memorial Garden

The Marcinelle Memorial Garden has received the Silver Award 2025 – International category at the Bricks in Architecture Awards, organised by the Brick Industry Association.

This international distinction honours a project deeply rooted in collective memory and recognises an architectural approach in which meaning, materiality and emotion play a central role.

Conceived in memory of Julie, Mélissa, Sabine and Laetitia, the garden emerged from close collaboration between the architecture office Réservoir A, artist Christophe Terlinden, landscape designers Carbonifère, and the Charleroi Bouwmeester teams. Together, they transformed a site marked by tragedy into a place of reflection, silence and solace, open to the neighbourhood and oriented towards the future.

Materiality as a bearer of meaning

Materiality plays a fundamental role in the project. The choice of white glazed brick, highlighted by the jury, goes beyond a purely aesthetic dimension. Luminous even under overcast skies, it symbolises reconstruction and resilience. One of the garden’s walls features the image of a child flying a kite—a reinterpretation of a photograph historically associated with the site—serving as a protective presence and a sign of hope embedded in everyday surroundings.

This international recognition confirms the project’s significance and reaffirms a strong conviction: architecture can and must accompany territories in times of trauma, by offering spaces imbued with meaning, memory and light.

Project team