La Cité Moderne, Brussels

The Cité Ouvrières (or Tuinwijk in Dutch) in Belgium is best compared to the Tuindorp in the Netherlands: a small-scale garden suburb. These neighbourhoods were mostly built on the edges of urban areas and can be traced back to the Garden City concept of 1898. In Belgium the aim was more towards supplying the working classes with affordable and sanitary housing that would form an urban rural go-between. Reconnecting the urbanite with nature and supplying the rural immigrants with a village like social context were also aims of these Cités. The first such garden neighbourhoods were built shortly after 1900. Most however were constructed after WWI. The Great War was devastating for some parts of Belgium, and there was a large housing shortage. A Cité* was a frugal choice as it involved building along a repetitive layout with similar blocks (mostly terraced housing, but sometimes also apartments) built with the same materials. 

Brussels had had a large influx of people immigrating to the city in the nineteenth century, but in the 1920s not just the area adjacent to the old city  but especially the outlying villages started expanding rapidly. The village of Berghem-Sainte-Agathe (Sint-Agatha-Berghem in Dutch)  is a good example of this. Formerly outside of the city limits the building of the Avenue Charles V (Keizer Karellaan) a Parisian style boulevard in 1905 lead to rapid urbanisation.

Between the rural enclaves of Zavelenberg and Katteput on the edge of Berghem-Sainte-Agathe near Ganshoren the first modernist garden suburb of Belgium was built between 1922 and 1925. This Cité Moderne consists of 275 dwellings and was developed by a socialist housing coop. The row houses and apartments have been designed in a cubist, modernist style by the avant-garde architect Victor Bourgeois (1897-1962). He also designed a building in the Weißenhofsiedlung. Most buildings have flat roofs, although some terraces on the edges have low hipped roofs to tie the new neighbourhood into the surrounding urban fabric.

The Cité Moderne differs greatly from the older urban fabric around it. It used to be on the edge of open countryside, thus completing the intentions of the designers. Postwar blocks (shown hatched) were erected around the edges. Recently more buildings have been added (shown crosshatched) in a style sympathetic to the architecture of the Cité Moderne.

The neighbourhood is very distinct because of the inventive use of poured reinforced concrete in square blocks without any frills. The buildings were designed to be built cheaply and fast by standerdising the layout of the dwellings and using readymade amenities. Each house had a small private garden. The apartment blocks were situated overlooking public gardens. Allotments were never planned - and are also not very much a part of the Belgian tradition.

The layout of the streets is very rational and orthogonal, with streets and building at right angles. This is also an expression of the intentions of the architect to create a whole new way of urban living. Little of the typical Garden City idiom is evident here, except the way in which some blocks have been set back to provide a small green. The positioning of the dwelling north-south and east-west lead to problems with not enough natural light penetrating the buildings. And light and space were very important! So we see a shift towards buildings angled at the sun. On the Place des Coopérateurs / Deelnemersplein (literally: Cooperative Members Square) we see two serrated terraces that mark this change. The other buildings on this side are also better angled towards the sun. Also here we see two cul-de-sacs on this side as a variation on the Garden City favourite, the close. The street plan was developed by Louis Van der Swaelmen and was aimed at furthering solidarity amongst inhabitants, a sense of community and a safe living environment.

All streets have emblamatic names. The central axis is the Avenue de l'Entr'Aide /Onderlinge Hulplaan (Mutual Aid Av.). This street ends on the transverse Rue de la Cité Moderne / Moderne Wijkstraat. Other streets are Rue de la Fondation / Stichtingsstraat (Foundation Street), Rue de Bon Accueil / Goede Koopstraat (Value for Money Street), Rue des Ebats / Ravotterijstraat (Romp Street), Place de l'Initiative / Initiatiefplein (Initiative Square), Rue de la Gérance / Beheerstraat (Management Street), Rue de Grand-Air /Openluchtstraat (Open Air Street) and Rue de Développement / Ontwikkelingstraat (Development Street).

The Cité Moderne was built just south of the old through road (shown in yellow) and near the boulevard (in dark green).The first part of the neighbourhood was built along a strict grid (in red) with a marked change on the west side (in amber). With this change of direction towards the sun -best shown in the serrated buildings shown in tangerine- also came larger public green spaces. The houses with hipped roofs are indicated in deep red.

La Cité Moderne was awarded first prize in the 1925 Exposition des Arts Décoratifs in Paris. This gave its designer instant fame. Aged 28 this helped his career enormously. As an example of a modernist Garden City (although in reality more a garden neighbourhood) it features in many books on architecture and design. It was granted heritage status in 2000 and all buildings are listed monuments. Sadly the whole estate looks rather run down. The highly complicated administrative situation in and around Brussels is probably no small factor in this. An intelligent renovation is needed!

*Cité can mean both city (the English word is after al derived from this) as well as urban quarter with a distinct character or function. Examples of this last meaning are Cité Ouvrières and Cité Jardin. Here Cité is also used to denote a distinct urban area. Te Dutch term used (wijk) is fitting as this word is derived from vicus, the word the Romans used to indicate a settlement or part of a settlement with a distinct non-military function.