The design for Mobilis in Brussels’ canal zone, a building for a car garage for D’Ieteren, responds to the rapidly changing and uncertain future of the automotive sector. At the instigation of the Brussels Chief Architect, the client reconsidered its initial request for a simple office and garage volume with parking around it and formulated a more ambitious request, which was then presented to various teams in a design competition. The new request focused on future-oriented possibilities for the car park, with the aim of diversifying the investment group’s portfolio and reinforcing the ambitions of the Canal Plan.

Instead of creating a car park that could be adapted to future programmes, the winning team, XDGA, designed a building that transcends the initial brief in both form and structure. It offers space for future activities without the need for adaptation or expansion. The organic perimeter of the building, which addresses the different sides of the site, also offers few possibilities for such future renovations. Moreover, the building was conceived with different temporalities in mind, which systematically determine its structure.