De Ideale Woning is a social housing company with more than 5300 homes spread over much of the district of Antwerp.
In 2005 the company had the opportunity to exercise its right of pre-emption over a site of almost 9000 sq. m. in Borsbeek. An adjacent piece of land was purchased later, making  the project area about 9500 sq. m. The purchase was made in consultation with Borsbeek local council. Since there is currently very little social housing, the council saw this as an opportunity to increase it. The site lies between a busy main road that is very noisy and a quiet street in an existing housing estate. The site abuts this estate and is not far from local services, shops and the village centre.
Because of the complexity of the area, the Jan Maenhout architectural firm in Brussels was asked to draw up a development plan for the site together with De Ideale Woning and the local council. The noise from the Frans Beirenslaan, the road link to the surrounding streets and the existing estate were the most important starting points. The architects put forward a proposal for 11 semi-detached single-family homes, a continuation of the existing estate. Two almost parallel volumes are set on the side nearest Frans Beirenslaan. These buildings are as far as possible oriented towards the inner area, where a semi-public square is created. This makes it possible to provide for 55 to 60 flats. The number of storeys decreases from five on the Frans Beirenlaan side to three on the Singel side.
Attention has been paid to providing greenery, and access to the area for residents and visitors is mainly along Frans Beirenlaan. It is also possible to drive out via the Singel. All parking adjoins the homes, and most of it is in underground parking spaces beneath the two main volumes. Each of the houses along the Singel has its own parking space. For slower road-users, a number of short cuts are provided between this neighbourhood and Frans Beirenslaan.
The architecture of this project should add value to the otherwise rather cheerless and heterogeneous buildings along this busy main road in Borsbeek.