Bijgaardehof

Three communities, one factory, one shared middle.

Bijgaardehof hero — courtyard in the factory shell (photo needed)

City

Ghent

Year

c. 2022

Groups

Three cohousing groups

Original

Factory reuse

Architect

BOGDAN & VAN BROECK

Ground floor

Neighborhood health center

On a former factory site in Ghent, three separate cohousing groups built side by side around planted courtyard rooms — each group with its own common house, all of them sharing the green middle. At the ground floor sits a neighborhood health center: the building's public face is a service everyone in the quarter uses.

What to steal: the federation. Three groups, each small enough to govern itself, sharing one courtyard and one construction contract — a way to reach block scale without one group having to be enormous.

Courtyard rooms — photo needed

Planted courtyard rooms between the wings

Common house — photo needed

One of the three common houses

Health center — photo needed

The health center at the ground floor

Lessons for Berkeley

Several small groups can share one site and one contractor — Spreefeld logic, Flemish accent.
A public health center is a stronger ground-floor anchor than retail in a quiet location.
Each community keeps its own common house; the courtyard is the federation's parliament.
City land-development agencies (Ghent's sogent) can broker sites groups never could alone.

Sources: project publications by BOGDAN & VAN BROECK and the City of Ghent (sogent). Details approximate.

Previous case

← Brutopia

Next case

Village Homes →