thomas schmidt

spring abroad 2016

For three months in the beginning of 2016 I was fortunate to be able to study abroad in Brussels, Belgium at the School of Architecture Universite Catholique de Louvain. While there, a group of four from my class were assigned an urban design project in the Brussels suburb of Saint Gilles. The site currently is a decrepit park that people would rather avoid than spend any time in. My group decided to transform it into the new city center for Saint Gilles.

We created a new public park with active "pods" of space that each serve a different function for any sort of person to enjoy. The center of the site has a 5-story building comprised of office space and a Language Learning Center to serve the residents of Saint Gilles who speak upwards of 5 different languages. Surrounding the center building is a V of residential apartments at efficient and affordable sizes to better serve the typically low income residents of Saint Gilles. The residential buildings' facades take a liking of the surrounding Brussels row houses which are so common in the area and are each designed in a unique and fitting fashion.