Harelbeke
visual quality plan for the town centre and design for the new market square

In no other place between Gent and Kortrijk a railway, a stone-paved road and the Leie River come so closely together as in the centre of Harelbeke. However, the continuous expanding and modernising of these infrastructures has not been kind to the town’s centre.

The town of Harelbeke has seized the most recent round of drastic modernisation works on the Leie to thoroughly renew its centre. In our design the infrastructure and the public space of the town centre are laid out again as one coherent whole.

As a result, the town makes an about-turn towards the water. The banks of the Leie are landscaped as a place for public to spend time. A new urban block heals the damaged building structure and a new market square becomes the key link between the stone-paved road with its businesses and the banks of the river.

To be able to steer this complex regeneration project we drew up in succession: an urban design masterplan, a visual quality plan for the renovation of the buildings, and a landscape plan for the new market square.

The execution of the projects started in 2015 and is expected to continue until 2018.

Opdrachtgever
Stad Harelbeke enWaterwegen en Zeekanaal NV
Periode
2010-2015