30 september 2020

1800 Vilvoorde - Broekplein (4 Fonteinen)

The site were once stood an industrial Flour mill just outside the city of Vilvoorde, is the last years again a site of intense activity. The bags of flour are now replaced by construction materials to reform this location in a new and vibrant part of the city called Watersite. This old brownfield has been redesigned into a new residential area where cultural and commercial activities go hand in hand.

The first lines of the urban development concept and design for this development were executed by Xaveer De Geyter Architects. This concept redefines this brownfield strip of some hundred hectares between the cities of Brussels and Vilvoorde into a wealth of possibilities with room for various urban developments. Integrating several landscape elements in the design to maintain a link with the industrial past such as the canal, river and some historical buildings.

Part of the Watersite project is the 4 Fonteinen project (4 Fontains site) that will become a perfect mix of living, working and relaxing, offering commercial and cultural activities in a green and low-traffic environment. Bureau Bas Smets created an extensive masterplan for this new city neighbourhood development.  Set between two cities the challenges have been extensive to create a multipurpose area with all the requirements of modern day urbanism. The combination of local amenities, offices, mobility points, bike lanes and promenades along the water give its inhabitants and future users  plenty of green and open space to enjoy.

In 2018 the city of Vilvoorde, de Vlaamse Waterweg and Matexi officialy opened the first phase of the 4 Fonteinen project including, among others, the Broekplein with its fountain and the Islero elements of Escofet 1886. With a future school in the neighbourhood, the city of Vilvoorde chose for the Islero elements as playful and formal shaped benches that would stimulate social interaction and yet tickle the imagination of the use of these benches. 

Its geometry allows many different layouts that plays with light and shades enforced by the glass spheres embedded in the Islero elements that reflect both sunlight and artificial light in a surprising and dynamic way when one looks at it.