The BMT factory located in the middle of the center of Boechout, next to the railway station, has been closed. BUUR has been assigned by a private developer to draw up a masterplan for the site of this former metal processing plant, to elaborate a Spatial Execution Plan and to design the public space. The whole process has been carried out in close cooperation with the council.
BUUR has realized an outlining to analyze the different characteristic layers constituting the center of Boechout: the historic grid of the residential streets; the big parks and villas; the informal structure of walking paths. BUUR’s ambition to consolidate these layers and to reinforce their mutual synergy, determines the guidelines of the development of the BMT site. This procedure generates a strategic project for the benefit of the whole village.
Part of the site will be reserved as a green space and will continue the adjacent park that will become partly public. Four green paths will be created throughout the site presenting each a different status and use, so all the new houses can enjoy the green environment. The greenery will alternate with five housing clusters, which are connected to the surrounding ground level houses and dwelling houses. The housing clusters will be situated at a slightly higher level that the park, according to the privacy and the restrictions of the land plot. A parkvilla, considered as a compact, higher located element, will define the transition between each cluster and the park. They will constitute the landscape landmarks of the park. The existing street along the railway road will obtain a specific frontage.
The masterplan results from a thorough reading of the site’s spatial boundary conditions and shows a residential area the integrates the local landscape qualities and guarantees maximum quality of life. The spatial concepts from the common masterplan have been translated into a detailed masterplan that has assessed the construction volumes and typologies. Architects for the first two phases of the project have been selected after an architectural competition. The first phase will be finished at the end of 2016, the construction of the second phase will start in 2017.
