Brussels’ municipalities have always prided themselves on their town halls: each one larger and more ostentatious than the next. Uccle’s town hall (1882), on the other hand, whilst boasting a distinguished Louis XIII style, was rather small. Too small for the many services required by a municipality of 85,000 inhabitants; as a result, those services were scattered all over the place. A new administrative centre on the outskirts of the municipality, in Stallestraat, now brings them together in the disused Fabricom buildings. Archipelago’s design preserves Cerau’s impressive concrete structure from the 1970s and gives it a welcoming and green character.

Before the renovation, the detached Fabricom building was virtually invisible due to walls on the street side and a park surrounding it. Archipelago demolished those walls and made the park accessible to the public. They also moved the main entrance from the steeply sloping Gatti de Gamondstraat to Stallestraat. They resolved the difference in height between the street and the buildings with steps and a ramp in a lush front garden.