Typology	Territorial Practices
Program	Public Space
Location	BE Brussels
Year	2023
Status	Competition
Budget in €	190 000
Size in sqm	9 350
Selection Process	Competition
Partner Office	BLOC paysage, Almadius
Team	Julien Deloffre, Jan Geks, Tom Quin

Jacquet

: Public Space

The public space strategy for the Jacquet Quarter focuses on inclusivity, accessibility, and a strong vegetal identity, structured around a series of interconnected parvis, squares, and green corridors. At the core, the new parvis of École «La Famille» resolves existing level differences to provide fully accessible entries and inclusive programmed seating and play areas, while integrating secure planted zones and service access. Similarly, the Victoria Park extension reopens and clarifies the park’s boundaries, removing visual obstacles to enhance safety, creating legible access points from streets and public transport, and reinforcing pedestrian and cyclist connections. The project introduces new amenities such as non-gendered restrooms, drinking fountains, and bicycle parking, combined with lighting and signage strategies to strengthen the public realm’s legibility and comfort.

Vegetation plays a central role, reinforcing ecological continuity, improving stormwater management, and creating a sensory and social experience. Street trees, isolated specimens, planted pockets, wetland zones, and fruiting shrubs are deployed to enhance biodiversity and provide edible landscapes linked to local community gardens. The former Parucq stream is revealed as a green axis connecting Victoria Park to the Schmitz block, while permeable surfaces, planted swales, and retention strategies optimize water infiltration and mitigate urban heat island effects. The plant palette is carefully selected for aesthetic, ecological, and pedagogical qualities, maximizing accessibility for maintenance and interaction with local residents.

The project also foregrounds gender equity and participatory governance. Public spaces are named after prominent women feminists of the 1970s Belgian movement, continuing the municipality’s strategy of “feminizing” the city, while workshops with residents co-define programming, seating, and circulation. Safety and inclusivity are reinforced through visual openness, shared traffic zones, controlled topography, and elimination of opaque boundaries. Overall, the Jacquet Quarter interventions create a coherent, socially inclusive, and environmentally resilient public realm, providing a series of connected, legible, and multifunctional spaces that empower community life and celebrate cultural memory.

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