User:Bangiomorpha/Résidence Albert

The résidence Albert ("Albert residence") is a nine-story modernist-style apartment building built by Marcel Leborgne in the late 1930s located in Marcinelle, a section of the Belgian city of Charleroi.

Architecture
The Albert residence in Marcinelle was built in 1937-1938, classified in 2010.

It is a modernist corner building of nine floors designed for Marcel Roisin. On the first floor, it has a commercial duplex and a garage for about ten cars. Above, there are eight levels with about fifteen apartments.

The corner is marked by a clear rotunda that gives a vertical momentum. The horizontality of each level is marked by a rhythm alternating the bay windows and the white concrete spandrels, as well as the terraces' tops. The terraces are presented as boat gangways. The inspiration of the naval architecture is found in the windows and the teak cladding between the windows.

By placing the rotunda at the end of a facade and not at the median axis of the triangle formed by the plot, Marcel Leborgne avoids the difficulties of fitting out the room with its biscornue shape at the corner of the building. The partitions remain parallel and the rooms keep their right angles.

In order to attract the bourgeoisie to this apartment building, the residence is equipped with a high degree of modern equipment: elevator, complete electrification of the kitchens and bathrooms, central heating. Originally, the apartments were all equipped with "Cubex" kitchen furniture, a functional storage system with standardized compartments created in 1930 by the Belgian architect Louis-Herman De Koninck. There is also one "maid's room" per apartment.