Collectieve woningen

The intervention by Witherford Watson Mann architects in the heart of Gistel draws on the full range of urban planning intelligence in order to fit collective housing into the fabric of a village. In this project, the indented corner is employed to keep the field open for the historical inn that shares the plot. The new homes are pushed towards the inner edges of the site, which creates a specific public yard, not in the sense of being a low-traffic residential street, but as an unconsciously recognisable village typology, where its own rules and customs apply automatically.

This text is based on an article by Ward Verbakel, published in Flanders Architectural Review N°12: Tailored Architecture.