Composed of various buildings each with their own identity and history, the Museum for Modern Arts of Ixelles in Brussels consists of a 19th century slaughterhouse, a former banquet hall, a seventies wing, and an adjacent police station. To turn this amalgam into a cohesive ensemble, a new circulation zone was created, connecting, and merging the individual buildings into one inviting museum and offering new value for the site, its visitors and neighbourhood residents.
The core of the circulation route includes the entrance hall, the ticket office, the bookshop, and a new café. The careful arrangement of these elements created a flexible compartmentalisation of the temporary and permanent exhibition spaces. In addition, the updated design of the outdoor area created a pleasant, urban environment for visitors to spend time in before their visit. The former police station now houses educational areas, a multipurpose hall, workshops, office spaces and a ‘city garden’ that hosts an intimate sculpture display, now an open-air section of the renewed exhibition route.
