— Project intent
A precise answer to the site and programme.
In Wavre, in Walloon Brabant, this urban conversion project transforms the upper floors of an existing office building into eight residential units, driven by a gentle densification strategy that favours the reuse of existing built fabric over the consumption of new land. The architecture firm STARC works with a compact ground-plus-two-storey structure that is firmly embedded in the mixed urban grain of the town.
The architectural ambition is to transform the building while preserving its urban character. The light-toned rendered facade, punctuated by a regular horizontal window pattern, enters into dialogue with the attached low pavilion clad in timber and orange panels, revealing a layered intervention strategy that this transformation continues. The interior layout is entirely rethought to create eight residential units that benefit from the natural light offered by the existing openings across multiple orientations. The planted wall on the side facade is maintained and integrated as a full component of the project's materiality, a strong signal of the building's embrace of living matter.
An optional rooftop penthouse, set back from the existing parapet and handled with restraint, asserts a new legible stratum from the public realm without altering the building's silhouette. This additional level opens broad views over the urban context while preserving the volumetric balance perceived from street level.
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