Auderghem: Médiathèque Nouvelle Gets Temporary New Life

The headquarters of the Médiathèque Nouvelle in Auderghem, Brussels, will receive a new temporary use under the management of the non-profit organization (ASBL) Communa, the two partners announced jointly on Tuesday, August 5, according to RTBF. The approximately 2,000 m² building, which houses about sixty offices, multi-purpose spaces, and a parking lot on Place de l’Amitié, will remain active as the institution winds down its operations.

A Cultural Institution’s Final Chapter

The announcement marks another chapter in the story of the Médiathèque Nouvelle, a nearly 70-year-old cultural institution created in 1956 as the Belgian National Discothèque. In October 2025, the Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles government announced its irrevocable decision not to renew the institution’s contract-programme, effectively ending its funding. As La Libre reported at the time, the decision put 55 jobs at risk and came without prior consultation with the institution’s staff.

The closure triggered a collective redundancy procedure, known as the Renault procedure, which was launched in late October 2025. As L’Avenir noted, the institution employed 46.5 full-time equivalents across its Auderghem headquarters and various Walloon libraries. The Médiathèque Nouvelle’s collection included approximately 400,000 media items — CDs, vinyl records, DVDs, VHS tapes, and video games — with its video game collection of about 5,000 titles already being transferred to institutions in Liège, as RTBF iXPé reported in June.

A Temporary Home for Community Projects

Under the new arrangement, Communa will occupy the building for at least 16 months. The building, still owned by the Médiathèque Nouvelle, will eventually be put up for sale in the coming months or years. The Médiathèque Nouvelle will continue to pay the property tax, while Communa will ensure proper management of the premises and make modest adaptations necessary for the temporary reallocations.

For Jean-Jacques Delleeuw, president of the Médiathèque Nouvelle, the operation has no commercial purpose. It allows the building to “continue to live” through a diversity of initiatives, preserving the spirit of a place long dedicated to sharing knowledge and culture.

Communa is a Brussels-based social economy organization that legally and temporarily occupies empty buildings, prioritizing housing for precarious people, as well as spaces for living, playing, working, and creating. As the organization notes on its mission page, nearly 6.5 million square meters of real estate sits empty in Brussels — an area equivalent to a 20th commune — while thousands of people lack access to decent and affordable spaces for housing or community initiatives. Communa has existing projects in Schaerbeek, Evere, and Forest, and aims to make the city more affordable, resilient, democratic, and creative.

In the coming days, Communa will launch a call for those who wish to occupy a space, develop an activity, or imagine a project in the building, with the ambition of hosting initiatives of collective interest and supporting projects useful to the territory.

A Bridge Between Past and Future

The temporary occupation represents a creative solution to prevent the building from sitting vacant during the transition period. The decision to hand the building to a social economy organization rather than selling it immediately or leaving it empty reflects a growing trend in Brussels, where temporary occupation is increasingly used as a strategy for managing vacant buildings.

The arrangement also preserves a connection to the building’s cultural legacy. As Mammouth Media reported, David Mennessier, a cultural mediator and union representative at the Médiathèque Nouvelle, described the closure as the end of “a democratic access to culture.” The new temporary use offers a measure of continuity, even as the institution itself winds down.

The Auderghem commune has also been planning to redevelop the surrounding Place de l’Amitié area, as DH reported in January, adding another layer of transformation to the neighborhood near the VUB (Vrije Universiteit Brussel).

What’s Next

As Communa prepares to launch its call for occupants, the coming months will reveal what projects and activities will bring the former Médiathèque Nouvelle headquarters back to life. The building’s eventual sale, the ongoing redevelopment of Place de l’Amitié, and the continued wind-down of the institution’s operations will shape the future of this significant cultural site in Auderghem. For now, the building that once housed one of Belgium’s most important media collections is set to continue serving the community in a new form.