Hasselt - Social housing Quartier Bleu

With this project, Wonen in Limburg (WIL) wants to complete the new urban district Quartier Bleu, located at Kanaalkom in Hasselt, with social housing. A total of 55 high-quality housing units with a community centre are to be built on top of the underground car park. It will be a challenge to properly connect the housing to the public space and the neighbourhood. WIL has allocated a budget of €13,750,000 (excl. VAT and fee) for this project.

Since 1 July 2023, all 19 housing companies in Limburg have formed a single new housing company: Wonen in Limburg (WIL). WIL is a powerful network that aims to significantly increase the housing offer and strengthen services. WIL does more than sell and rent housing and has an eye for the small everyday things that matter. WIL thus seeks to create vibrant districts where everyone really feels at home and where it is pleasant to stay.

Quartier Bleu is a new hip urban district on Hasselt’s marina. Kanaalkom, formerly known as Kolenhaven, is a former port and industrial zone that has developed into a new city district with a mix of residential, work and leisure functions. This area, currently known as Blauwe Boulevard or Quartier Bleu, offers a wide range of shops and supermarkets. Luxury flats were built above the commercial base. Along the waterfront is a promenade with many cafés, restaurants and bars overlooking the marina. One plot has not yet been built on. This is where WIL wishes to build 55 high-quality social housing units. 

This project is the keystone of that development and has the potential to add some qualities to it as well. After all, Quartier Bleu now acts, in a sense, as an island in the wider urban fabric. And yet, a school and student housing are to be found opposite the site. A good design can improve the connection with the neighbourhood through the arrangement of volumes, a good use of the ground-floor spaces, a well-considered organization of access to the housing units, and a good progression from public to collective to private space. 

A number of important preconditions must be considered. Underneath the entire project site, a large multi-level underground car park has already been provided for both visitors and residents. In the context of this residential project, 42 parking spaces were purchased, which is sufficient to meet the current parking standard. The grid of columns for the housing units is thus already determined. The challenge for this design lies in providing quality residential floor plans within the constraints of this grid, with the units preferably having light and views along at least two sides and a sufficiently spacious terrace. With a view to circularity and adaptability, this structure can be further elaborated as a basic grid within which, in time, other uses (other floor plans) are also possible. The existing slab of the underground car park is higher than the ground level on the street side (+/- 1m30). In addition, there is a KWO installation (district energy network) which must be connected to. An escape staircase from the basement also needs to be integrated into the buildings. 

In consultation with the city of Hasselt, WIL aims to realize a high-quality social housing project with a mix of housing types. A feasibility study has shown that 55 housing units can be realized on the site. Different types of housing are needed, in principle reflecting the proportions of the waiting list: 20% type 1/2, 10% type 2/3, 10% type 2/4, 25% type 3/5, 25% type 4/6 and 10% type 5/7 or 5/8. Given the constraints of the structural grid, the designer may deviate from this if this results in more high-quality floor plans. The housing units should be comfortable for families, the elderly and single people.

The design team is required to help reflect on how the project can contribute to a vibrant, accessible and traversable district with more staying quality. The ambition is to encourage cycling and walking with, among other things, a central bicycle facility at ground level. Much attention will have to go to activating the already existing paths in Quartier Bleu. WIL wishes to focus on places where residents can meet and where passers-by or residents of the other building blocks can also spend time.