Commitment 08Read more
City-Port Interface
The City-Port Interface: A Resource for Diverse Development Projects
Promoting the architectural and landscape integration of port facilities.
Developing public spaces and recreational or cultural amenities in City Port interface zones to create an appealing new area.
How to manage the aesthetics of a port during a big restructuring project ?
Light, colour and materials are all important elements that can be used in the architectural composition of new or existing public spaces and buildings, to revitalise the often negative industrial image of port cities. They can serve to highlight projects’ best aspects, adding new dimensions or stimulating new ways of looking at certain spaces.
The challenge was to give back meaning to the port's activities in a renewed urban atmosphere, and to counter the port's old image as a no man's land, making it visible and accessible once more, while rebuilding a « proud awareness of the port » in the Brussels spirit. Transforming the port's image in this way was one of the key objectives of the urban integration programme between 1993 and 2007.
The Béco basin in the centre of the city was the first target of this strategy. Its left bank (the « Quai des matériaux » or materials dock) was redeveloped between 1993 and 1999 to create a public space for walking and leisure, with new infrastructures for tour boats.
The right bank (the « Quai des Péniches» or barge dock) was redeveloped into a multi-purpose public space between 2000 and 2002. The project revolutionised the local landscape, with references to the canal and the various port elements created around the basin.
The 2008-2018 urban integration programme consolidated these efforts to regenerate the port landscape, while also supporting the development of a leisure-oriented centre around the Béco basin.
The facelift project for the Molenbeek and Aderlecht locks, undertaken as part of the previous programme, was completed in 2011. It has not only enhanced the attractiveness of these locks in an urban district that is itself in the process of conversion, but has also made the sites safer and more secure.
In the same spirit, a programme to renovate and illuminate Brussels' old bridges, fine remnants of the industrial era, was finalised in 2010. The programme smartened and showcased the Pont des Armateurs, which marks the gateway between the city and port, while the Pont des Hospices and the Pont de Buda were also renovated. The final aspect of the programme was a new global lighting plan, to illuminate and enhance the attractiveness of the night-time canal landscape.
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