Hidden gems and secret places

Imagine a place with faded splendour, where paint peels off, dust dulls the lustre of chandeliers, and visiting feels like delicious exploration. The Aegidium, a high point of Brussels' nightlife in the Roaring Twenties, transformed into a parish hall before being abandoned for 40 years, has a history as varied as its architecture. One can easily picture its mirrored doors and faux marble ornaments in a sultry gangster film. Cédric Jimenez did too, as he chose its monumental staircase and ballroom as the backdrop for a scene in La French. Here, we find Gilles Lellouche as the boss of the Marseille mafia and Jean Dujardin as a determined magistrate.

Peaceful and well-to-do, the Fort Jaco neighbourhood boasts tree-lined streets, four-sided villas, architect-designed houses, and manicured gardens. It's in this very chic setting that Sébastien Thiery and Vincent Lobelle shot Momo, a French comedy based on a boulevard play. The story begins when a middle-class couple, played by Christian Clavier and Catherine Frot, see their tidy daily routine turned upside down by the arrival of a hearing-impaired man who claims to be their son...

A near-future comedy, The Pod Generation envisions a world where artificial intelligence reigns supreme and children are conceived in connected eggs. Beneath its apparent lightness, the film delves into profound topics such as parenthood, gender equality, and the grip of technology on our lives. It's no surprise to find the brutalist and utterly futuristic architecture of the Former CBR here, with its iconic copper-tinted windows making a striking impact. Designed by architects Constantin Brodzki and Marcel Lambrichs, the building made history in 1980 when it was elected among the most emblematic structures of Modern Architecture!

With its rounded volumes, porthole-like windows, and immaculate walls, Ultra Asylum evokes a 70s space vessel. This unique ‘extraterrestrial’ space in Brussels was designed by Belgian architect Renaud Dejeneffe, renowned for his dream villas with minimalist lines. It's within this plush, futuristic spaceship that we find the couple from The Pod Generation as they decide to gestate their future child in a ‘pod’, a connected and ultra-modern plastic egg. A futuristic place where luxury and the unexpected find common ground.

The medical world and Art Nouveau lines seem incompatible? Not so at Brugmann Hospital, which was designed by the master architect of this movement in Brussels: Victor Horta. With its eclectic style tinged with Art Nouveau, this atypical building undoubtedly pushed its creator out of his comfort zone! For the various pavilions of this hospital complex, he skilfully played with bricks, turning them into motifs. The superb Chapelle Horta is a prime example, with its facade and apses adorned with white decorative friezes. This classified historical building was chosen by director Willem Wallyn during the filming of 1985.

With its arcades creating beautiful perspectives and the warm aura emanating from its red and yellow brick facades, Cité Hellemans is the sunshine of the Marolles neighbourhood. Dating back to 1915, this ensemble of 272 social housing units with a striking architectural unity resonates particularly well with the diverse atmosphere of this popular neighbourhood. Photographers cherish its unique setting just as much as filmmakers. It's here that Mavela, the young heroine of the film Black (mentioned earlier), lives with her mother. Filmed on her balcony, with a panorama of the adjacent brick blocks, she reminds us of a contemporary Brussels Juliet.