This remarkable listed building will be place of work for 150 people and a crèche. Suède 36 proposed integrating these new functions with their surroundings and opening up the building to the city. The façade is basically a wall and given its listed status cannot be altered drastically. The intersection of rue Dieudonné Lefèvre and rue Moorslede is a large triangular expanse of asphalt and so our proposal was to make it into a forecourt, a public area.

This re-greened area would have benches, a bike park, ‘moonlight’ lighting and pedestrian crossings linking pavements. Trees would not hide the existing façades but fit in with a discrete public space. The centre’s cafeteria on the corner of the building would lead out into the public space and become a terrace.

We suggested that the material used for the street furniture be re-use material. The gabions (stone boxes) used to build low protective walls and plant boxes would come from the demolition of the Byrrh building itself.

This Suède 36 project came second in the competition.