Decock, Sint-Jans-Molenbeek
From Industrial Heritage to Youth Centre
Behind a valuable Art Deco façade lies a very simple warehouse — little more than lightweight steel trusses and a corrugated metal roof. This façade was always intended as a kind of stage set: the façade of a structure that is more an industrial shed than a building.
Where possible, we reduce paving and introduce greenery. The program is organized around three new patios that bring greenery, daylight, and visual connections deep into the building, while also contributing to the depaving of this dense part of the city. The largest patio is placed at the front, just behind the historic façade. This allows the transition from the busy, public street to the sheltered interior of the youth centre to happen through a green entrance patio — a threshold between city and home. Intimate, yet highly visible to passersby, and inviting to the neighbourhood. This entrance patio is generous enough to function as a true outdoor room, where various activities can take place.
The warehouse will undergo a thorough renovation and will accommodate a large multipurpose hall, a quieter study space, a drop-in lounge, a homework workshop, a bicycle repair station, a kitchen, and the necessary service spaces (toilets and storage). These functions are connected by a meandering “in-between space” designed for more informal use.
We are creating a reuse inventory to enable as much material as possible from the existing warehouse to be repurposed — including the concrete floor slab, the steel roof trusses (to be reinforced), acoustic ceiling panels, old sinks, and a spiral staircase. This adaptive reuse project has the potential to make a real difference and catalyse the transformation of the wider neighbourhood. It strengthens the connection between East Molenbeek (with too little greenery) and West Molenbeek (with too few facilities). We hope the youth centre will also become a figurative bridge — and that it can grow into a place where young people meet and feel at home.
Phase : under construction
Client: Municipality of Molenbeek
Team : Carton123 architecten, Stir (building services engineer), Lambda max (structural engineer), NDM, Joost Emmerik (landscape), D2S, 2bSafe
Photos : Iwein De Keyzer
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