Sideline

The ‘Sideline’ installation in Brussels is intended to focus attention on the challenging urban space of the Canal Zone, an area that regularly features in the media due to its serious social, ecological and economic problems. In 2013, the French architect and urban designer Alexandre Chemetoff developed the ‘Plan Canal’, with the primary objective of improving residential areas, employment and public spaces.

Laura Muyldermans and Arian Schelstrate designed four interventions that were meant to stimulate the passers-by and to offer them new perspectives on the surroundings of the Willebroek Canal. Their interventions were intended to open up unused, underused and unknown spaces to residents and passers-by, and to encourage people to reflect upon the potential within their surroundings. New balustrades provided an open invitation to go down to the water’s edge, thus making hidden places more visible.

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