ABSTRACT
The church of Saint-Joseph, constructed in 1880 following a design by architect Auguste Van Assche, is a classic example of gothic revival style. The church was constructed as part of a newly planned neighbourhood, called Rabot, providing housing for the workers of the rapidly developing textile industry. For Saint-Joseph Church, one of the selected churches for this research programme, the envisioned new function was a social use that would serve the local community of Rabot. The reuse strategy for the church was defined based on two spatial studies: a typological study that analysed the potential capacity of the church in the form of increased floor surfaces and a circulation study that outlined possible new connections between interior and exterior and within the church space itself. By partly excavating the direct surrounding of the church and opening up the facade, the closed character of the church can be countered.
