Follow The Cars To Find The People
Reusing The Past As A Framework For Heyvaert’s Social Future
Z.A. Jastrzębska (TU Delft - Architecture and the Built Environment)
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Abstract
In Heyvaert, if you follow the cars, you find the people. Cars play a special role in this neighbourhood, as they are carriers of jobs, communities, and Heyvaert’s diverse identities. Seemingly inanimate objects, they have shaped the social and spatial dimensions of urban life, and their legacy will continue beyond the imminent collapse of the second-hand car trade.
This project explores how the architecture formed through years of second-hand car trade can be appropriated for new uses that serve the communities. Through the adaptive reuse of a former car garage into a pool, the design reimagines car infrastructure as a means of bringing people together.
The intervention focuses on adapting the car ramps to the human scale as the main catalyst for a new civic function, creating a clear promenade architecturale that guides users towards a safe public space. At a larger scale, the project utilises the interior qualities of the historically industrial plot to enhance social security and connect the surrounding residential plots.
Overall, the project demonstrates how the architecture can truly take pleasure in the context and how the car heritage can be reinterpreted as a valuable spatial resource rather than an obsolete remnant of the car-trading past.