This project asks one to suspend their beliefs and delve into sublime unreality begging the question, what if architecture could be a fleshy body? An autonomous body with hair, pimples, stretch marks, flab, and the inner workings of our own bodies. A body capable of physiological responses such as blushing, getting goosebumps, sweating, and excreting – capable of growing and metastasising. This project allows inhabitants to be liberated as they encounter this fleshy architecture.

Situated in Schaerbeek, Brussels, the project site is divided, with the city’s red-light district on one street and a Muslim community along the other. With the program of a bath house and future café, the architecture seeks to connect women who dwell in the neighbourhood together, as many of them currently live and work separate from each other, avoiding interaction. The architecture needs fuel and energy, waste management, and will continue to grow on the site. The growth of the fleshy body will host future projects such as the café. The programme provides for Muslim women to engage in ritual bathing and prayer, and for any woman to relax, bathe, chit-chat, and connect to their bodies and each other.