FERM – Community & Housing Project
Adaptive wooden structures for collective making and supportive living
The bachelor thesis is situated on the ‘Ferme des Boues’ site, located along the canal in Brussels. The project consists of a community centre that provides space for local creative production in the form of workshops, complemented by two housing complexes for young people without a stable home.
Inside the existing warehouse, a new structure is inserted that builds upon the formal logic of the building. The design consists of a repetitive, open CLT framework capable of accommodating various programmes. Its modular organisation — a grid of columns and CLT panels — allows flexible spatial configurations with movable interior elements.
The residential tower is conceived as a timber skeleton wrapped around a concrete stair core. The oversized wooden beams create an open structural frame that accommodates the insertion of intermediate levels. This results in a flexible and efficient use of space, combining generous communal areas with smaller, private living modules.
