Transforming the site of the former gendarmerie school in a respectful yet ambitious way, Usquare is a joint conversion project led by ULB, VUB and the Brussels-Capital Region, which is the owner of the site.
The project aims to bring citizens, the city and knowledge closer together, combining sustainable development with international attractiveness.
The various components of the project include housing for families and students, local facilities open to residents, a space dedicated to sustainable food, and public and cultural spaces, as well as an innovative university hub for research and innovation (Institute for Advanced Studies, inter-university, inter-disciplinary and inter-faculty research centre), scientific mediation and participatory research (FabLab, OpenLab), and entrepreneurship (incubator), not forgetting the Home of the International University Alliances (consisting of CIVIS and EUTOPIA).
For the two universities, Usquare is not just another infrastructure project. The preliminary studies and support for the building work provided an opportunity to turn the site's conversion into a real research and teaching project, supporting our infrastructure planning and management teams to better meet the challenges of openness and sustainability. Our teachers, researchers and students in architecture, urban planning and urban studies, as well as economics and management, have made a major contribution to refining the way in which the various functions on the site coexist. Our historians have added to our knowledge of the history of the site and the issues surrounding its heritage. And our engineers and geologists have helped to make this conversion, despite the severe constraints inherent in an urban heritage site, an exemplary and well-documented case study in renewable energy and the circular economy. Usquare is therefore also a living laboratory for universities, developing solutions for other campuses and the city in general.