Haard en Kouter (Residential complex)

This residential area with social housing in West Bruges might seem light-hearted, but make no mistake. For CRUX Architecten, it was a real challenge. 100 homes needed to fit on a small plot of 82 by 25 metres. As a whole, it needed to blend seamlessly into the small-scale district and the historical almshouses nearby. And another headache: every home needed to give out directly onto the street, and have a little garden or terrace. Walk around the block past Kammakerstraat and Paalstraat, wander through the publicly accessible shortcut with the little benches, admire the almshouses, the Chapel of Our Lady of the Blind nearby and look at the shapes, colours, contrasts, heights and depths.