The student housing built on the Woluwé-Saint-Lambert university campus is a major contribution to the history of Belgian architecture in the second half of the 20th century. Simone and Lucien Kroll propose an architecture of disorder that embodies the participatory approach. In response to the student protests of the late 60s, future inhabitants became co-creators of the project. They were encouraged to take part in the design and construction of their living space. Fervent supporters of heterogeneity, Simone and Lucien Kroll were looking to democratize the act of building. Instead of being simply consumers, inhabitants became the driving forces in their own domestic environment. Inspired by the Modular Coordination System (SAR, John Habraken), partitions and facade elements can be moved within a defined grid. The combination of industrial and artisanal construction processes allows the various components to be easily transformed and reproduced. As well as being a model of the participatory approach, the student housing of Université catholique de Louvain offers a reflection on the permanence of built architecture. The inclusion of the notions of flexibility, adaptability and modularity enables the successive transformation and, consequently, the maintenance of these buildings. For Simone and Lucien Kroll, architecture should no longer be the result of a unitary vision, but un milieu habité. As the first case study of the doctoral research, Lucien and Simone Kroll's emblematic project proposes an evolving architecture that combines historical, theoretical and material reflections. 50 years after its construction, this experimental heritage building, which has been listed for preservation, challenges the founding principles of heritage protection.

‍