Charleroi
Housing, offices & retail
LAN wins the 5th Element project competition, launched by public housing company Sambrienne for the construction of a mixed housing, retail and offices program in Charleroi, Belgium, in association with BLOW Architectes.
Located in a wooded area, the project gives pride of place to outdoor spaces with the creation of a forecourt around which the various buildings are articulated. Like the foothills of the fortress Vauban which remains are buried under the site, the project of the 5th Element is organized in a succession of landscape areas nested one inside the other. Different typologies of spaces offering distinct services thus surround a central federative center at the scale of the district, allowing a clear reading of the place while subtly referring to the rich past of the city.In this natural setting, the development of a vertical and compact architecture frees the ground. New first signal of urbanity of one of the entrances of the city, the project sets the tone and reinforces the emerging image of "Charleroi Métropole".The brick, the only cladding material used in the overall project, gives all entities similar faces but each time unique by their hue. The different tendencies created between "similar but unique" architectures generate different atmospheres that meet all the needs of this microcosm".
The brick, the only cladding material used in the overall project, gives all entities similar faces but each time unique by their hue. The different tendencies created between "similar but unique" architectures generate different atmospheres that meet all the needs of this microcosm.