Bros

Project: Bros
Architect: Label Architecture

Programme: Transformation of an old brush factory into two apartments, an office, and a film studio

About: The project involves the transformation of a former brush factory located in the lower part of the municipality of Forest, Brussels. The site brings together two distinct building types: a tall early-19th-century townhouse on the street front and a low industrial building at the rear. Rather than creating a complex articulation between these entities, the project establishes a shared entrance, with everyone accessing the site through the same door.
Inside the block, the plot displays the heterogeneous characteristics typical of Brussels’ inner courtyards: a long, narrow site — often referred to locally as a “fry-shaped” parcel — stretching approximately 80 metres deep. The project embraces this unusual configuration and draws several advantages from it.
The intervention focuses on the heart of the block, where the building now accommodates a diversity of activities including workshops, shared offices and two dwellings. Editing studios occupy the darkest areas, while the housing units take advantage of the sloping ground, rising like a bel étage above the cellar level. More than a simple juxtaposition of functions, the project operates as an open and lively environment. By combining housing, workshops and shared workspaces, the Bros project redefines ways of inhabiting, building and experiencing architecture.
The garden was redesigned collaboratively. It provides an opportunity to restore a greater proportion of permeable ground while completely rethinking the management of rainwater.
Planted wadis create a subtle micro-topography that gently defines spaces of intimacy alongside more open areas. Outside working hours, the private gardens extend by mutual agreement. Boundaries become fluid, with properties sliding and overlapping according to the actual use of the place.
These landscape arrangements encourage the coexistence of housing and shared workspaces, while maintaining moments of attention and privacy for each individual.