For a short time now, two intriguing brick buildings have occupied a central place in Grote Bosstraat in the Brussels municipality of Schaarbeek, where once the Optima factory used to be located. These buildings were commissioned by the municipal administration and designed by Geurst & Schulze architecten and JAVA Architecten/s. Their intervention turned the previously inaccessible site into a place for education and sports, at the service of all residents in the neighbourhood. 

The former factory site is enclosed along three sides. On the street side, the architects built the Dutch-language primary school De Kriek, with the Optima sports hall next to it, named after the defunct company. A former transformer station for the Brussels tram stands proudly in the centre of the plot; it was later used as a residence for police dogs. The building, utilitarian but no less poetic for that matter, was restored to its former glory. Under the name ‘Le Chenil’ (French for ‘kennel’), it serves as a refectory and psychomotor playroom – not only for De Kriek, but also for the French-speaking school La Vallée, which can also use the shared playground, now redesigned.