As a child of the mining landscape of Beringen-Mijn, I have always been fascinated by the site 'Le Grand-Hornu.' This historic industrial mining complex in the Borinage, southwest of Mons, has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site since 2012. What makes Le Grand-Hornu so special is not only the preservation of the historical mining buildings but also the forward-thinking vision of Henri De Gorge. His paternalistic approach to the work-life balance transformed the site into an early masterpiece of functional urban planning in the 19th century.
De Gorge went beyond merely constructing workshops, offices, and his own residence. He designed an entire urban district, including a way of life for his workers, with the goal of binding them to the company. In the early 19th century, seasonal work in the mines was mainly done by farmers, which made it difficult for De Gorge to find permanent employees. To solve this problem, he created an almost utopian environment by addressing the living conditions of the people. Often, entire families slept in one room without any comfort or sanitary facilities. De Gorge built stone houses with advanced living comforts. Child labor from the age of 6 was almost a necessity in the nineteenth century. De Gorge built a boys' and girls' school and introduced mandatory education until the age of 12. The site also offered amenities such as a hospital, kiosk, ballroom, and park. Thus, De Gorge created an island of better living conditions that attracted people. The downside was that De Gorge kept strict control over his workers: he managed their lives in a dictatorial manner.
His paternalistic vision manifested in a purposeful layout of these functions, with the housing arranged around the heart of the site with the workshop. When we analyze the urban layout, we see a clearly functional and formal whole in a modernist sense. The workshop itself is characterized by the cour centrale: an oval courtyard surrounded by the arcade workshops, the machine hall, and the engineers' building in neoclassical style. Everyone sees everything, everything is seen: panopticon style—a well-known concept for prisons. Am I drawing a parallel between a prison and the work zone of Le Grand Hornu? From a 21st-century Western perspective: yes. Of course, the necessary nuance must be made. De Gorge partially had the best intentions. Naively enough, I do believe he sincerely wished for social progress. Realistically, he was also driven by one of the greatest motivators of the industrialized world: money. Money makes the world go round. Efficiency and increasing productivity were surely high on the agenda, and according to tradition, he achieved this as well.
The most significant testimony to his success is the castle he had built. Adjacent to the engineers' building is De Gorge's castle, while on the other side lies the cité with workers' housing. Again, a spatial translation of his paternalistic ideology with a strict hierarchy. His castle is quite opulent compared to the workers' houses.
The brick houses, except for the corner houses, were all identical. The corner houses were intended for the supervisors—the porions—who oversaw both the mine and the neighborhood. Each house had its own sanitary facilities, with two rooms on the ground floor and three upstairs, and the residents shared a bakehouse per two dwellings. The rows of houses were separated by a 12-meter-wide avenue, inspired by the Haussmann plan. This wide street and the private sanitary facilities were innovative and seem to be the precursor to what later became the "air, light, and health" credo of modernism.
The modernist seed is not only evident in the workers' houses. You can also recognize a form of pre-modernism in the workshops. The arcade workshops, for example, clearly refer to the classical architecture of the ancient Greeks and Romans, with the arches and classical structure. However, there is a modern twist that breaks with natural building forces: form is deliberately created here. Although the cour centrale formed by this arcade seems symmetrical at first glance, a closer look reveals the presence of four distinct quadrants. Is this authentic, or a reinterpretation? Here, form seems to be destroyed by the creation of objectification, making it a postmodern artifact avant la lettre.
Although mining was essentially heavy and often dangerous physical labor, the use of the neoclassical style can also be seen as an attempt to elevate and glorify this work. By designing mining buildings as imposing, classical temples of industry, the work in the mines was almost elevated to a noble activity, fitting the grandeur of classical civilizations. The neoclassical style was also associated with the Enlightenment and the belief in the power of reason and progress. By designing mining buildings in this style, a connection was made between industrial progress (mining) and the rational, enlightened ideals that would form the basis for a better future. Coming full circle: that better future lay in the glorified work and modern stone houses on the other side of the site.
Like all mining sites, Le Grand-Hornu closed. After decline and rescue by enthusiasts, Le Grand-Hornu now offers an interesting mix of archaeology, authentic neoclassical architecture, and hybrid contemporary architecture under the guise of adaptive reuse. This repurposing activates the site in a way that transcends the past and comes close to our humanity: culture. This is reflected in the CID (Center for Innovation and Design) and the MACS (Museum of Contemporary Art). Is culture the new revitalization effort to bind the working population to a capitalist model? Time will tell... But one thing is certain: history is cyclical.
~Ar. Kimberly Wouters
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