STW0070 – BRUSSEL - Millennium square

design: landscape design of the square in front of the new community centre
client: City of Brussels
designteam urbanism and landscape: act. (Studio Thomas Willemse + Emilie Bechet) - collaborator: Bram Vidts
architecture: agmen, raamwerk
period: 2025

The new community centre in the northern district of Brussels will become an urban anchor point, connecting to the neighbourhood on three levels, each with its own identity: a public square, a collective garden, and an intimate rooftop farm.

At street level, the design builds on the existing school forecourt, already a meeting place for the local school and daycare. The community centre is a natural extension of the functions in this space.

The community centre is a new addition to the square with layered outdoor public, collective and intimite spaces.

Three east-west passages turn the square into a key link in a neighbourhood that has so far been oriented mainly north-south. The community centre takes on a central role as a gathering place for residents, students, and passersby. It bridges the raised ground level through an accessible, integrated design, guiding pedestrian flow and expanding the forecourt to accommodate future movement.

One level up lies the elevated ground plane—an inheritance from the Manhattan Plan—now a raised park with pavilions and shared functions. Here, the community centre opens as a light pavilion, with a balcony facing the street and a sunny terrace overlooking a central lawn. This green space becomes a shared breathing room within a densely built neighbourhood.

At the top, an intimate rooftop farm with a greenhouse offers residents a place to garden, gather, and unwind—a space of care, quiet, and connection.

Through this layered design, the neighbourhood gains not only a new community centre but also a place that connects people, functions, and routes.