Hertogensite residences

The Hertogensite residences are located at the edge of the medieval centre of Leuven, an important university city near Brussels. The project forms part of a masterplan for the redevelopment of a former hospital campus that divided the west of the city from the centre. The masterplan called for a 14-storey tower building connected to nine townhouses and a four-storey apartment building on a long, narrow site between a fragment of the city’s medieval wall and a branch of the River Dijle.

The town houses run parallel to the city wall, connecting to the tower to the north and the apartment building to the south. The scheme unifies these three distinct typologies into one coherent whole by finding a similar architectural language throughout, defined by the size of a living unit and the consistent use of grey coloured brick cladding. The townhouses and apartments step in plan, emphasising their individual character. In the tower each living unit is expressed by flipping the apartment’s balconies from one floor to the next. The result is a scheme with a strong sculptural form that also responds in key ways to its surroundings.