The theoretical research, From Hard to Soft: Gentrification and the Transformation of the Northern Quarter in Brussels, aimed to understand the process of gentrification through its historical evolution in the Post-Fordist Global North. The analysis sought to propose a contemporary overview of this urban phenomenon, now led by real estate powers and public planning tools, by focusing on Brussels’ Northern Quarter’s historical evolution. Throughout this case study, gentrification can be understood as hard urban transformations evolving towards soft interventions, generally hiding strong private and public power structures. In reaction to the political project of gentrification which affects the Northern Quarter’s surroundings, the project takes place in the industrial Maritime Quarter, in Molenbeek-Saint-Jean. The intervention aims to transform a typical hybrid urban block by deploying its inner core to the neighbourhood. Former industrial warehouses are turned into two superimposed fields: an open plinth made of collective services supporting a network of rooms dedicated to affordable housing. As an institution of resistance, the project’s ambition is to offer an alternative but situated way of living that continues to negotiate with the Quarter’s heritage.