The Site in data

Rabot-Blaisantvest has a highly diverse neighbourhood population. Located on the outskirts of Ghent centre in the 19th century housing belt, the district is clearly separated from the rest of the city. The many seemingly identical workers cottages built in a chessboard pattern from the middle of the 19th century at the behest of textile manufacturers De Smet and de Hemptinne and the three large social housing tower blocks dominate the neighbourhood’s skyline. The ‘Wondelgemstraat’, the main shopping street which is dominated by Turkish traders, lies at the heart of this area. 

The neighbourhood has two aspects, i.e. the Rabot and the Blaisantvest, which are physically separated by an ex-industrial zone where the Tondelier quarter is to be built in due course.