At the heart of Parvis Saint Jean-Baptiste, one of the liveliest squares in Molenbeek, the project reactivates a site that had long remained vacant. Once occupied by a building destroyed by fire in the early 2000s—of which only the basement still remains—the plot now gives way to a new six-storey building comprising five apartments and a commercial ground floor, helping to restore life and continuity to this fragment of the square.

The project is built around a simple idea: to create generous, light-filled, and open living spaces. The daytime areas naturally face the parvis, allowing residents to enjoy open views and the vitality of the square from the living room or kitchen. In contrast, the nighttime areas are positioned at the rear of the building, providing quieter and more intimate spaces for the bedrooms. Between these two worlds, a central technical strip structures the building, grouping together the bathrooms, circulation hall, elevator, and service shafts.

On the street side, the façade is divided into two parts. This gesture reduces the perceived mass of the building and echoes the scale and typology of the Brussels townhouses that surround it. The façade design draws inspiration from the dominant neo-classical language of the neighborhood, while interpreting it in a contemporary way. The ground floor opens widely onto the street to accommodate the commercial space, while the more discreet private entrance is marked by a rounded doorway referencing the carriage gates of the 19th century.

On the upper floors, the windows are topped with trompe-l’œil imposts—rounded on one side and rectangular on the other—a subtle detail that reinforces the division of the façade. Finally, the use of transparency at ground level establishes a dialogue between the commercial space and the public realm, extending the animation of the square into the building itself.