Voetgangersbrug en inrichting Verboeckhovenplein

The redesign of Verboeck-hovenplein in Schaarbeek by Ney & Partners in association with MSA, which includes a footbridge over the lower-lying railway bedding that cuts across the square, is part of a broader urban project that responds to the demand for housing and is intended to improve the quality of life. When reorganising the ‘Berenkooi’ (bear cage), as the square is better known among Brussels residents, the designers succeeded in transforming a space that was thought to be lost into an attractive public square.

But then they went a step further: the spectacular positioning of the bridge is a symbolic element that is intended to give the extremely varied Navez-Portaels district a new impulse. The designers succeeded in reviving several connecting routes by means of an analysis of the spatial, social and historical context. In combination with the green setting with its benches, the bridge is a link between neighbourhoods and people. In the middle of an intersection of streets, it serves as a meeting-place and a point from which to view the monumental nineteenth-century axis that runs from the town hall to the station in Schaarbeek. The bridge can be seen as the rounding off and refinement of the nineteenth-century urban planning of the district.

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