A latent symbol of a declining automobile industry, the Citroën showroom and workshop form an urban island that dominates the north of the ringroad alongside the Brussels canal. The project is intended to revive the importance of this place and restore André Citroën’s 1930s vision of it as a ‘city in the city,’ making it the catalyst for an intensification of the city’s cultural life and an urban center for a changing neighborhood. The proposal inserts two new volumes – one a stacked series of galleries, the other a silo for the archives and library. This radical intervention frees the halls from the technical and practical burdens and transforms the complex into an urban ensemble composed of different volumes with clear typological characteristics. A minimal upgrade of their envelope creates a tempered outside climate...[+][+]