London-based studio David Chipperfield Architects has completed a new Hertogensite residential complex at the edge of the medieval centre of Leuven, an important university city near Brussels.

The project is part of a master plan for the redevelopment of a former hospital campus that had previously divided the west of the city from the centre. The development is situated on a narrow plot, between a fragment of the medieval city wall and the banks of a branch of the Dyle River.

Hertogensite housing designed by David Chipperfield Architects consists of a series of interconnected geometric volumes clad in brick, comprising a 14-storey tower, nine townhouses and a small apartment block, when shape and morphology were influenced by tying their three different typologies into one coherent building, to answer to their singular surroundings.

The residential area design, a scheme with a strong sculptural shape,  paid attention to developing a consistent architectural language throughout. All units step into the plan, emphasizing their "individual character" and their overall idea.

The tower, (two apartments per floor and is crowned with a penthouse) dialogues with a public park to the north, and the townhouses and apartment building (it contains smaller rental flats and serves a transitional function) define a street running parallel to the historic city wall.

Residencias Hertogensite por David Chipperfield Architects. Fotografía por Maxime Delvaux.

Hertogensite Residences by David Chipperfield Architects. Photograph by Maxime Delvaux.

Project description by David Chipperfield Architects

The Hertogensite residences are located at the edge of the medieval center of Leuven, an important university city near Brussels. The project forms part of a master plan for the redevelopment of a former hospital campus that had previously divided the west of the city from the center and as such will contribute to the opening of the site and its reintegration into the surrounding city. Set on a narrow site between a fragment of the city’s medieval wall and a branch of the River Dijle, the development is unique in that it combines several residential typologies: a 14-story tower, nine townhouses, and a small apartment block, uniting them in a single building.

The scheme brings together these three typologies into one coherent whole by finding a consistent architectural language throughout, defined by the size of a living unit and the consistent use of grey-colored brick cladding. The townhouses and apartments step into the plan, emphasizing their individual character. In the tower, each unit is expressed by mirroring the apartment’s balconies from one floor to the next. The result is a scheme with a strong sculptural form that also responds to its surroundings in key ways. While the tower both activates and overlooks a public park to the north, the townhouses and apartment buildings define a street running parallel to the historic city wall. Given its central location within the masterplan, the tower will become a symbol of this new neighborhood, taking its place on the Leuven skyline.

The tower has two apartments per floor and is crowned with a penthouse. The lower floors have a close connection to the new park, while the upper floors offer views of the center of Leuven. Large balconies, carved into the tower, take advantage of these views while being positioned to respect the privacy of the townhouses to the south. The townhouses step from three stories on the street front to four stories at the rear. Each has a garden that leads to a branch of the River Dijle that was uncovered as part of the master plan. The four-story apartment building contains smaller rental flats and serves a transitional function, connecting the townhouses to an existing building, further embedding the new development into the neighborhood.

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Architects
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David Chipperfield Architects. Partners.- Benito Blanco, David Chipperfield, Billy Prendergast.
Director.- Mattias Kunz. Project architect.- Julien Gouiric.

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Project team
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Billy Prendergast, Ele Mun, Gabor Tajnafoi, Joana Ribeiro, Jusin Park, Katie Jackson, Kelvin Jones, Nayem Mohammad, Oliver Ulmer, Peter Jurschitzka, Renato Pimenta.

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Collaborators
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Executive architect.- Bureau Bouwtechniek.
Structural engineer.- Establis.
Services engineer.- Creteq.
Façade consultant.- Bureau Bouwtechniek.
Quantity surveyor.- Bureau Bouwtechniek.
Landscape.- Wirtz International Landscape Architects.

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Client
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Resiterra nv.

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General contractor
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Vandeobos.

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Area
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8,000 sqm.

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Dates
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Project start.- 2018.
Construction start.- 2021.
Completed.- 2024.

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Location
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Leuven, Belgium.

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Photography
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David Chipperfield was born in London in 1953 and studied architecture at the Kingston School of Art and the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London before working at the practices of Douglas Stephen, Richard Rogers and Norman Foster.

In 1985 he founded David Chipperfield Architects, which today has over 300 staff at its offices in London, Berlin, Milan and Shanghai.

David Chipperfield has taught and held conferences in Europe and the United States and has received honorary degrees from the universities of Kingston and Kent.

He is a member of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) and an honorary fellow of both the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and the Bund Deutscher Architekten (BDA). In 2009 he was awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany and in 2010 he received a knighthood for services to architecture in the UK and Germany. In 2011 he received the RIBA Royal Gold Medal for Architecture and in 2013 the Praemium Imperiale from the Japan Art Association, while in 2021 he was appointed a member of the Order of the Companions of Honour in recognition of a lifetime’s work.

In 2012 he curated the 13th International Architecture Exhibition of the Venice Biennale.

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