Located in a wooded area, the design project provides outdoor spaces by creating a square around which the various buildings are arranged. Like the buttresses of the Vauban fortress, whose remains are buried beneath the site, the Fifth Element project is organised in a series of landscape crowns nested within each other. Thus, different typologies of spaces offering distinct services surround a central unifying place at the district level, allowing a clear reading of the place and subtly referencing to the city’s rich past.

Starting from the outward to the core of the site, these elements follow one another: the outskirt green area, vehicular traffic, buildings, pedestrian traffic, and the garden on the square.

Within this natural setting, the development of a vertical and compact architecture frees up the ground. As the first urbanity signal from one of the city entrances, it sets the tone and reinforces the emerging image of “Charleroi Métropole”.

This project is based on the reconnection between the architectural design and the city’s character. It is about consolidating the dialectical relationship between constructions and the evolution of the urban fabric. Therefore, the design of this ensemble lies at the intersection of architecture and urbanism. Because of its scale and impact on the future life of the neighborhood, the project quickly leads us to consider the issue of urbanity as pivotal.

Thus, the Fifth Element project is for us a unique opportunity to define an identity by integrating desires for ecology, sharing, diversity, community, and landscape qualities. The proposed built ensemble aims to be grounded within its context, both in its typology and architectural language. The concrete block, the covering material mainly used in the project, gives all the entities similar faces. The different tensions created between “similar but unique” architectures generate different atmospheres that meet all the needs of this microcosm.

Client: La Sambrienne / Budget: 34.5M€ excl. tax / Area: 25 000 m² / Calendrar: 2015-2025 / Team: LAN (architecte mandataire), Blow (co-contracting architect), Pirnay (structure), VS-A (facade), Polytech (M.E.P), Base (paysage), ATS (acoustics)