Collaborating institution: Musée Horta
Partner: PANORAMA (research platform, ULB)
Supporting Organizations: Fonds Baillet-Latour, ULB
Budget: 73.000 €

Destroyed in 1965, Victor Horta’s Maison du Peuple was an iconic piece of Brussels’ built heritage. If the principal features of the project were well know, a lot of aspects of its original state were obscure (and some still are). In 2015, AlICe lab and the Horta Museum started a thorough study of the building through 3D modeling, That new chapter of the research about the Maison du Peuple also included some unexplored archival fonds, the 3D digitization of a lot of the remaining architectonic elements, as well as the supervision of several renowned experts. From 2015 to 2018, the research has mainly been undertaken through students’ Master thesis, each of them focusing on a very specific matter or room of the disappeared building. In 2019, the research benefited from a Fonds Baillet-Latour grant, as well as some financial support from the ULB (FER). Then, four researcher carried on the project so as to produce a first finalized result that is now accessible through a 12 minute 3D movie and a virtual tour.
The Maison du Peuple 3D restitution hypothesis was nominated for the Europa Nostra Ilucidare Special prize in heritage-led innovation in 2021. The project is also part of the 4th Inventory of remarkable projects listed by the Institut Culturel d'Architcture Wallonie-Bruxelles.

Research team:
Jean Trottet (Research & 3D modeling, ULB)
Denis Derycke (Scientifique supervision & project lead, ULB)
Benjamin Zurstrassen (Scientifique supervision, Horta Museum)
Françoise Aubry (Scientifique supervision, Horta Museum)
Alexandre Van Dongen (Aerial & terrestrial 3D digitization of the urban context, ULB)
Claire Fontaine (Restorer and color expert)
Michel Provost (Ancient structures expert, ULB-VUB)
Ine Wouters (Ancient structures expert, VUB)
Henry-Louis Guillaume (Virtual tour, ULB)
Thomas Lancz (Post-production)

Based on the Master thesis of the following students:
Megan De Prins (ULB-VUB), David Facho Santos (ULB), Jérémy Moreau (ULB), Marine Serrette (ULB), Jean Trottet (ULB), Alice Leclercq (ULB), Boris Douala Dzotsie (ULB), Robin Dufayard (ULB).

Click here to access to the virtual tour of the Maison du Peuple

Presentation of the project on the Belgian television news (RTBF)