Typology	Territorial Practices
Program	Public Space
Location	BE Commune D’Anderlecht
Year	2020
Status	Competition
Selection Process	Competition
Partner Office	BLOC paysage, ARIES consultants
Team	Julien Deloffre, Jan Geks, Tom Quin

Vaillance

: A New Landscape for Anderlecht’s Heritage

The “Pôle Vaillance” project is part of the broader regeneration of the historic center of Anderlecht. The existing situation reveals a fragmented public realm lacking clarity, safety, and coherent mobility organization for pedestrians, cyclists, and other active users. Several ongoing studies and projects such as the PRM, PCM diagnostics, the ABK project, the underground parking beneath Place de la Vaillance, and the STIB’s “Go Wayez” street redesign, form the backdrop against which this proposal has been developed. The site includes numerous heritage elements, key public institutions, and significant local landmarks, making it the most important open space in Anderlecht and a critical anchor for the town’s identity.

The proposal aims to structure the “Pôle Vaillance” around a clearer, more accessible, and more welcoming public space network. The project reorganizes the square and its surroundings through improved legibility, reduced car presence, universal accessibility, and the creation of flexible, multi-use public areas. New spaces, including a parvis for the Collégiale, an urban forest, new plazas such as Place Victor Servranckx and Place Erasme, and a water-mirror and play fountains around the Monument, enhance the continuity of pedestrian routes and support a wide range of daily and seasonal activities. Terraces, markets, play areas, and cultural events coexist within a calm, generous, and adaptable public realm.

A major ambition of the project is to reinforce ecological and landscape continuity by integrating extensive planted areas and connecting major green and cultural landmarks throughout the district, from the Central Park to the Erasmus House gardens. At the same time, the design foregrounds architectural heritage by restoring clear façade-to-façade readings and restructuring key historic spaces. Inspired in part by the compositions of Victor Servranckx, the proposed redesign anchors heritage within a renewed urban landscape that strengthens social life, supports local commerce, and redefines Place de la Vaillance as the true civic heart of Anderlecht.

Read less