SET - Field studies in Belgium part 2

SET -

Field studies in Belgium

2016

II

Field studies in Belgium This book shows the inspiring outcome of the fall semester of 2016 by the candidate program; SET: Settlements, Ecology & Tectonics. This year we opened with a series of field studies in Belgium. These studies focused particularly on the themes; Resilience and Re-industrialization, which were meant to form the backdrop for critical discussions about contemporary building culture in both a European and a Danish context, and in the students work.

Resilience & Re_Industrialization Over the last couple of years the concept of resilience has become an important part of different discussions across society. This counts for fields of sustainability, psychology and not the least of future climate changes.

Common to all fields is the very definition of resilience as; the capacity of a system to absorb disturbances and to reorganize itself while it is undergoing changes.

Central to this understanding of resilience is that the system continues to obtain fundamentally similar functions, structures and identities as the original ones. In other words it is all about a system’s (a city’s, a person’s a ecosystem’ etc.) ability to resist serious impact from external factors – the robustness of the system. In regard of developing future construction and architecture the ecological resilience is of great importance.

How do we ensure the balance of nature’s ecosystems that make them resilient to human intervention?

This question points to a greater awareness of which materials we will build with in the future and how we ensure that they can be reused, and thus included in metabolisms that extend beyond the life of the individual building?

When developing future building methods and systems this understanding must be integrated and form point of departure for new ways of thinking in terms of improving todays industrialized production of building components and systems. There is a need for re-industrialization’ og the building industry, where the knowledge from former generations of industrialization can form the basis for new design solutions that can be disassembled (design for disassembly) to make sure that the embedded qualities and ressources are handled optimally.

2

Field Studies Under the heading of resilience and re_industrialization the field studies in Belgium were planned as deep investigations into a series of selected architectural offices and their projects. The students were divided into groups of 4-5 persons who selected each their architectural office. This way the groups could make a comprehensive mapping of Belgian architecture and collect data about how the offices worked, their particularities and through this identitfy different types of strategies within the field.

Two weeks were entitled to prepare the field studies and two full days were planned to engage ‘on-site’ with the architectural offices and their projects. The rest of the time was planned for visits at university of Delft and Eindhoven and site visits in Germany.

Research design To make sure that we can compare and discuss the field studies across the various groups a common research design has been developed. This way the field studies become a a collective project where all groups feed their work into a larger mapping of the questions at hand. The aim is to develop a comprehensive archive of various strategies regarding resilience and re-industrialization that each of the selected architectural offices represent.

The shared archive thus forms a foundation for the subsequent semester projects. The research design is divided into two parts: - A systematic description of the architectural office and their profle within the field of resilience and re-industrialization - A tectonic analysis of the projects characterizing the architectural office and how tectonics shows in the final work.

The two analyses have been conducted accordingly: The profile of the architectural office examined through a semi-structured interview All groups contacted each their architectural office and made appointments in order to visit the office, conduct the semi-structures interviews and discuss the selected projects. To make sure that the interviews were comparable they were following the same guidelines and questionnaire. This sort of interview is characterized by being structured, but still offering an open dialogue about topics selected beforehand by the interviewer. The questionn-

aire then becomes the Read Thread in the conversation although it is not defining how the interview person will answer to the question or prioritize the various questions.

The questionnaire then helps to secure that all topics are touched upon but also leave the opportunity to spend more time with one question over the other. The interview is to be considered as a conversation where the interview person does not know the questonaire before the meeting and does not learn that it exist.

The questionnaire was structured as following: Background How was the office founded, what is the background of the owners/partners, where are they educated, what is the size of the office?

Scope What types of projects does the office angage with (one family houses/ Housing developemnts/ public building / urban planning/ landscape/ other) Vision What is the vision of the office - how does it feed into the work of the office – what is the focus in the projects?

Resilience / robustness How does the office work with the concepts resilience, robustness, resistancy in your practice and what do they think it means for future construction industry?

Industrialization / the making of buildings What is the role of the construction industry in regard of the projects of the office and how do they see future construction develop in regard of new strategies as design for disassembly and new types of production (ex.

Factory manufactured building) ?

Based on the interview each group was asked to write a profile describing the architectural office. Each themes of the five themes was to be summarized. Also based on the methodologies presented in the book; ”Quality goals in the architectural design process – a focus on industrialized construction”.

A tectonic analysis of a selected project The second field study in Belgium was a tectonic analysis of a selected project of the offices.

The aim of the analysis was to map and discuss how the specific profile (that is based on the interview) can be read in the approach to a certain built project. The groups were then to select a project that seemed typical for the office and they had to make sure to get access to drawings and other important background material. Most importantly the groups had to make sure that they could visit the buidings and register details by use of photos, and drawings that depict particular qualities or atmospheres.

The analysis of the various projects focused at the tectonic dimension of the building. How the architecture tells the story about how it is built. To be able to discuss themes or problems across the buildings the analyses had to follow the same structure – divided into three parts: The load bearing structure A description of the building’s load bearing elments, the structural logics and principles. How can it be read, its material character, how does it affect the plan, spatial organization etc.

Facade / building envelope The construction of the building envelope, its materiality and how it affects the correlation of indoor / outdoor (including indoor comfort, daylight, ventilation, thermal / heating systems), and the correlation between the load bearing structure and the facade.

Service systems Organization of the service systems, how do they play a part in the overall architectural expression (visible / hidden), are they designed with regards to the load bearing structure and do they communicate how they work in terms of the indoor environment? Are they imbedded in the architectural concept?

Each of these three analyses are structured as a link between a redrawng of the building focusing on the specific theme and supplementary short descriptions that discuss the selected solutions in relation to the particular profile of the office.

Frans Drewniak, Anne Beim & Ulrik Stylsvig Madsen

3

Areal Architecten Founders Chris Eeraerts Thomas Cools & Barbara Morisse Location Brussels, Belgium Interview by Group 8 Emil Engelbrecht Vindnæs Siri Tjønneland Esben Merlach Lauritzen Marie Hvidaa Hjørnholm

COLOPHON Editorial & layout: Anne Beim & Helene Skotte Wied Programme Direction: Frans Drewniak & Anne Beim Authors: Emil Engelbrecht Vindnæs, Siri Tjønneland, Esben Merlach Lauritzen & Marie Hvidaa Hjørnholm Published by: The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Schools of Architecture, Design and Conservation Masters programe - Settlement, Ecology and Tectonics Institute of Architecture and Tecnology Philip de Langes Alle 10 DK- 1435 Copenhagen K Denmark

Table of Context Field studies in Belgium - an introduction

2

Interview

4

Case study

8

Drawing Index

11

Site Plan

13

Site plan

14

Section 16 Exploded isometrics

18

Detail isometric

20

Photo 21

Interview Background Areal Architecten was founded in 2006 by three architectural engineers; Thomas Cols, Chris Eeraerts and Barbara Morisse. They graduated in 2001 from the University of Leuven, and when their paths crossed again in 2006, they founded the office based on their common interest for architecture, city developments and its social aspects.

Work Areal Architecten has produced a wide range of buildings in Belgium, mainly focusing on public buildings, but also other fields like Social Housing, Renovations, Private housing & building extensions. Consistent themes are seen throughout their line of work. From the holistic overview, down to working with small details in the installations.

The office is located in Berchem, Antwerp, in a new upcoming area, ‘T Groen Kwartier, build from a wellpreserved military hospital. The area is part of the green plan of Antwerp, where the buildings are now privately owned by the State and slowly different companies and housing areas are being built, with a focus on the common spaces and green areas in-between buildings.

All the buildings are red brick that holds a lot of history inside the walls, and Areal Architecten is located in the old military dining area, a building that the office renovated 3 years ago.

“So, this is hallway inside a social housing project, a lot of people come here who are in different difficult social situations, there’s a lot of things going on in case of addiction, they don’t have work - there a lot of social problems so everything you build there must be very robust. So, this is made from concrete walls that cannot be damaged, and the floor is very strong and you still have this very detailed railing and that is for us important, that there is attention to every detail, every staircase is as important as the kitchen.”

You enter the office by a big gate in the facade and through a well lit light-yard, which they kept like a big empty hall. By doing this and keeping the office space as a kind of back-yard, they express their typical subtle approach which is evident in all of their work.

The inside walls are the original red bricks and the flooring is a green carpet, which to some degree drags in green areas in the language of the surroundings in ‘T Groen Kwartier.

Today, Areal Architects employs nine architects. Together, they try to formulate through ideas and architecture a response to architectural challenges, which is grounded in an urban or social context.

They work with the private as well as the public sector, and throughout the years Areal Architecten has shown themselves as a reliable partner as project managers in the construction of schools, healthcare and collective living environments.

The firm was originally created by Chris Eeraerts, Thomas Cools, and Barbara Morisse. They met and studied together in the Portuguese school of architecture in Coimbra where they did their thesis together. After the school, they worked in various companies where they acquired a collective under- standing of the work as practicing architects.

4

Interview with Chris Eeraets

Arial Architecten workspace, 2016

Vision A grand vision of a company can be hard to define, but if you take a closer look at Areal architects and the way they talk about their projects, you might find that they display a humble approach to the role as architects and sense of responsibility towards the inhabitants that are going to have their daily lives in their creations.

The system that is chosen for this project is a loadbearing concrete structure. Instead of casting fixated walls, this grid system secures the possibility of being able to tear down walls and rearrange them for new purposes.

Considering long-term use through the structural principle is a sort of resilience.

“Sometime we feel like we reach a certain level of Architecture, but there is also this everyday doubt, and I think it should stay that way” Resillience “You should put a lot of money in the skin of your building and an open plan. That is what they did here you have this elaborate skin, and you have this high ceiling and the building is quite adaptable.”

The way you can see the term resilience is incorporated in Kleuter Basis School, is to take a closer look at the type of loadbearing system chosen for the building.

5

Re-Industrialization Talking about the theme of re-industrialization it makes sense to take a look at their office. The brick building is located in the industrial part of Antwerp and it was originally an infirmary in a military campus. Recently, the complex was bought by a developer who helped restore the buildings. The area is now home for several companies - Law firms, It-firms, and a 3 star Michelin restaurant.

Moving into the old infirmary the architects decided to do very few changes to their new workspace. Besides establishing a toilet core, laying carpets to soften up the acoustics, not much has been changed. The walls of the old infirmary servers as a self-regulating heating/cooling system. “...

This building the office is sitting in is more than 100-yearold, and has walls about 40-50 cm thick. It II perfect insulation and a perfect barrier against overheating, but it is not possible to build like that, it would be too expensive.

6

Plan drawing, groundfloor

7

Case / De Kring, Berchem Basis school De Kring is located the suburbs of Antwerp in an area called Berchem. The area is a mixture of office buildings and social housing. The school is an addition to a gym hall located on a grass- field next to one of the ring roads that surrounds Berchem. The school opened in 2013, and is now housing around 150 children. In the near future, the number of students will increase.

Construction “What we often try to do, which is not that cost efficient, is to make buildings out of concrete skeletons, and then put facades around. For example, the school in Berchem doesn’t have many load-bearing walls, it’s made out of a concrete skeleton” Choosing the concrete grid as the main load-bearing system for the school has a great impact on its adaptability. Choosing the system secures the possibility of being able to tear down walls and rearrange them for new purposes. Also, it has an Architectural dimension to it, as there has been an effort to show the concrete construction throughout the building in all its honesty.

Facade System The facade system in the project has been constructed in an atypical manner compared to the traditional way of constructing in Belgium.

“The normal most traditional way of building would be an inner facade, loadbearing, and then you go outside.

And here it’s an infill - not loadbearing. Then comes the insulation layer and then the outside brickwork, which is also not loadbearing. “ Concept The school is placed in a read with little space and with a building program under pressure it has been a challenge to find a solution. The solution was found by stacking classrooms on top of a v-shaped ground school, that is placed in relation to the existing gym hall thereby creating a courtyard.

Another dimension of the concept is a visual erosion of the programmatic boundaries that takes place within the building. By constructing multiple layers of windows secures the inhabitants to have visual contact between various functions and in different levels. “... The concept is windows in different layers, you have an outside window which have a wooden framing, and 8

you have windows between the corridor, which also have to same wooden framing. And then they are always next to each other, and you can sometimes see through a class, through a void, into another class.”

Installations A state of the art air filtering system has been implemented in the lower classrooms, because of the location, right next to a highway. Although, the system has a drawback as it is only fully functional if the users keep the windows closed in the class- rooms. Under certain conditions this will result in some indoor-climatic issues as the rooms will overheat.

Another noticeable point is the light setting and the placement of lights throughout the building. In contrast to regular light settings in class room, the lights are placed in a radial formation, perpendicular to the most central point in every classroom.

Usability Talking with the users of the building; The teachers, revealed some weak points from their perspective as daily users. The critique pointed at minor details like sharp corners on door handles, hooks etc. But as major weak points it was pointed out that there were some functional complications regarding the shape of the class- rooms & a general need for more space.

Facade

Hallway

Classroom

Interior 9

Drawing Index 08.01 Site plan 1:2000 08.02 Site plan 1:500 08.03 Section 1:50 08.04 Exploded isometric

1:200

08.05 Exploded isometric

1:200

08.06 Detail isometric

1:20

11

Bassis School te Berchem

08.01

Architects: Areal Architecten Year: 2012 Site plan

1:2000

13

14

Bassis School te Berchem

08.02

Architects: Areal Architecten Year: 2012 Site plan

1:500

15

16

Bassis School te Berchem

08.03

Architects: Areal Architecten Year: 2012 Perspective section

1:50

17

Bassis School te Berchem

08.04

Architects: Areal Architecten Year: 2012 Exploded isometric

18

1:200

Bassis School te Berchem

08.05

Architects: Areal Architecten Year: 2012 Exploded isometric

1:200

19

Bassis School te Berchem Architects: Areal Architecten Year: 2012 Detail isometric

20

1:20

08.06

21

Robbrecht en Daem Founders Paul Robbrecht Hilde Daem Location Gent, Belgium Interview by Group 9 Mikael Mundt Thea Berg Sanna Holmberg Jozefin Kraft

COLOPHON Editorial & layout: Anne Beim & Helene Skotte Wied Programme Direction: Frans Drewniak & Anne Beim Authors: Mikael Mundt, Thea Berg, Sanna Holmberg & Jozefin Kraft Published by: The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Schools of Architecture, Design and Conservation Masters programe - Settlement, Ecology and Tectonics Institute of Architecture and Tecnology Philip de Langes Alle 10 DK- 1435 Copenhagen K Denmark

Table of Context Field studies in Belgium - an introduction

2

Interview

4

Case study

6

Drawing Index

9

Site Plan

11

Plan

16

Section

18

Facade

20

Sections

22

Isometric drawings

26

Exixting/proposed plans

29

Interview Leaving the hostel in the center of Gent around 9.20, we begin our walk towards the office of Robbrecht en Daem.

When we cross the bridge over one of the channels, we get a hint of the hangar belonging to the office of Robbrecht en Daem. The hangar is placed in a context of mainly low-rise industrial buildings and townhouses. A great contrast from where we came from. Finally, inside the gates we were hit by the green, fascinating almost jungle-like atmosphere. This used to be a storage for timber now remains of the construction stands as a framework for the office of Robbrecht en Daem. At 10 am The interview with Johannes Robbrecht begins.

Background Robbrecht en Daem was founded by Paul Robbrecht and Hilde Daem in 1975. They both studied architecture and graduated from Campus Sint-Lucas– Faculteit Architectuur in Gent. The office had a rough start in the early 80s due to the oil crisis. There were almost no open competitions and the large commissions always went to the same big offices. At that time, you could get famous in Belgium by designing a bathroom for you brother and these types of small commissions were the start of the office of Robbrecht en Daem. In the early years of 2000 the office grew larger. They bought an old warehouse that used to be a wood storage and transformed it into new architectural office spaces and a garden space.

Work Their large spread of projects at different scales are wide-ranging from single buildings to infrastructure projects, interiors and landscapes. Robbrecht en Daem think it is important to have a broad view on how to work with architecture and the attention to the human presence in their buildings. From the beginning, the duo of Paul and Hilde worked to develop an intense vision in terms of color use, proportions and materiality.

Johannes is describing their office space as one of their most characteristic projects. The office is placed in the poorest area in Gent, defined by mixed range of building types and old industry. The placement of an architectural office in such a challenged urban environment was a conscious decision by Hilde and Paul, both from an economic perspective and the thought of giving something back to the surrounding neighborhood.

The same love as they have for the studio is a feeling they try to bring into all of their projects. They focus on the program and always engages in a dialogue with the surrounding context.

4

In the year of 1986 Paul Robbrecht and Hilde Daem met a lot of artists through their work and developed close relations, which later became professional collaborations. They have worked recurrently and intensely with renowned artists such as Isa Genzken, Gerhard Richter, Cristina Iglesias and Franz West. After the 80s-90s the collaborations became more demanding, but it is still very important and ongoing in their architecture.

A part of their work is related to the visual arts and a dialogic approach with the regard to the old masters of architecture such as Mies van der Rohe and Henry Van de Velde. In Krefeld they built a 1:1 model of an unbuilt project by Mies Van der Rohe.

“Working with artists demands always a kind of certain care for them, they are not this very strict people, organized, you need to take care of them. “ The organization of the Robbrecht en Daem office is based on a horizontal structure, without any formalities in terms of the founding partners or a series of associates.

The non-hierarchic structure leads to an opportunity for different people to become leading architects in certain projects. The office has a close dialogue with their collaborators where everybody comes with inputs and can add ideas to the discussion.

As the projects grow in size and complexity, the office is trying to use the idea of a physical model to understand the space they are working with.

Vision In the relation to art the office differs from most from other offices. They have a great interest in working with artists and a long list of collaborators. At the time Paul Robbrecht and Hilde Daem founded the office they were part of the New Simplicity Movement, but this is not something they still feel connected to. Johannes does not think the office tries to fit into a larger agenda. The younger generation at the office are dealing more with context and the aspect of making small changes with a significant effect. The importance of creating architecture and at the same time have ‘a feeling for what is around’ would be more accurate than saying that they belong to the New Simplicity Movement.

“To relate to Denmark; not like dogma with the films, like these are the roles, at dogma you have to make a film like this, because if not, it’s not a dogma movie. It doesn’t work that way. There are no agreements or discussions between our offices to agree on how to proceed in the Flemish architecture.“ - Johannes Robbrecht Resilience After being introduced to the concept of ‘resilience’, Johannes Robbrecht would describe the idea of resilience in architecture as; an opportunity to give something back to the society. He thinks it is important to use this opportunity to change the way people are acting in their everyday life.

“My father always say that the project he loves the most was the concert hall in Bruges, because it is a geometrical construction where you have to make the best space for sound and music.

But the thing he loves the most is that it gives so much back afterwards.“ - Johannes Robbrecht The thought of resilience is present in all of the works at Robbrecht en Daem. It is relevant to the office that their projects mean something to the people they are made for, and the idea of after having finished the work – people takes over. Sometimes you design without knowing the outcome of usage – it will stay empty or be used – both are fine.

Reindustrialization With diversity in projects Robbrecht en Daem also have projects based on the idea of reusing existing buildings. You will find a good example in their office building where they have converted an existing timber yard into new architectural studios. The work floor has become an outdoor space that will accommodate an arboretum, a swimming pool, and a large open area for performances.

This used to be a warehouse, an old wood storage, now it is a garden or a playground for my children. We as architects can actually change a space and make a new one, and there will still be a memory to the warehouse, and how the warehouse was.

Garden at Robbrecht en Daem

When questioned about sustainability Johannes Robbrecht again referred to the office building. They are aware that they have to support and be interested in sustainability. Their own office uses geothermal energy for sustainable heating and cooling. In the future, they also want to have photovoltaic panels on the roof for electricity. In addition to this, they also collect the rainwater.

Johannes is aware of the importance of building sustainable and to choose materials carefully, but he tells us that there still is a long way to go. He thinks the Scandinavian countries are more advanced and have greater awareness towards these issues.

Robbrecht en Daem always suggests to work sustainable, but people do not want to pay the extra costs and the expenses changes their view on the topic. Unfortunately, the discussion is very difficult and if the architect’s suggestions should be possible, Johannes believes that people will have to changes their state of mind.

”I think we like the idea of the many layers, the history – or that we [ed. As humans] are exposed to what happened before.” - Johannes Robbrecht 5

Case / The State Archive In 2010 Robbrecht en Daem won the competition of designing the new “State Archive” in Gent. It was a challenge launched because of the need for a new modern archive. The state of Gent was going to rent it when built.

The project had advantages and disadvantages. The fact that the client did not want to spend too much money led to compromises. But, because Robbrecht en Daem had won the competition they were able to have a big influence on the project and to persuade the client to take different choices. Johannes mentioned the rounded corners and the glazed facade.

Tectonic analysis Since the “State Archive” in Gent is not Robbrecht en Daem’s first drawn archive he notes that the users are the state and that they are not too much into architecture. They are more interested in getting a “mathematical” answer to the competition. Johannes talks about the many restrictions when you design an archive. Very often the archive has to be above ground, so less than half of it is under-ground due to the risk of water damages.

Johannes mentions that there was not a problem on the site where the “State Archive” of Gent was placed, but because of the regulations archives are still constructed in that way.

Characteristic for the “State archive in Gent” is the glazed brick with the window sills running around the building. Johannes tells us about the representation of the sills. They are referring to shelves and storage, representing the archive, but also as shelfs to put e.g. statues on.

The volume of the archive resembles the nearby archive “Book Tower” by Henry van de Velde.

Johannes describes the concept of the building as a quick idea. As they have used a lot of raw concrete for the interior they wanted to balance it with wood panels to give it more warmth. The wood panels also work as acoustic panels, a material they also use at their own office.

Robbrecht en Daem prefers to work with natural materials, such as stone, glass and wood they hardly work with plastic. They talk about resilience as “giving something back”. There is a small square at the back of the building, that is something they decided to add to the neighborhood. It used to be a narrow street, now it’s a place to meet. Johannes mentions that the archive is a good example to represent the term “resilience”.

Johannes describes the street in front of the archive as an interesting street, “kind of different” and at the 6

same time a street without a “clear idea”. At the end, there is a concert hall, mainly used for grand parties, on the other end of the street lays the archive, to balance it up. The “tower-ish” volume of the archive requests a kind of own independence in the street, and it makes it more present.

There are small light inlets under the window sills, which are meant to bring natural light into the archive.

They were later replaced with dimmed lights but because of the neighbors complaining of too much light and the high electrical costs, they are now only lit a couple of hours per day. Johannes mentions this as a result of the disadvantages of working for a developer,” they don’t care about certain things when the money is out”.

Being an archive, Johannes hopes the building will stand for a long time. Since the program is so specific there are certain problems concerning future plans of transformation. E.g. there’s no flexibility of making lofts or apartments, due to the fact that there is a lot of closed spaces. The huge amount of installation also makes the building less flexible. When asked what has to be changed first, he responds the roof and maybe the solar panels.

Future The office recently won a competition, to design the new media building for VRT, the Flemish Radio and Television Broadcasting Company in Brussels. For Johannes Robbrecht the competition is one of the biggest and most important in Flanders ever. ̈ I think there never was, and still is not a very clear plan on what we want, so I think we are quite fortunate to have this kind of projects coming to us in a way. ̈ - Johannes Robbrecht The old State Archive in Gent was in need to move due to lack of space. The physical conditions and the security did no longer meet the contemporary standards in the old archive. A competition was launched and Robbrecht en Daem took on the task to draw a new State Archive.

The new volume is meticulously matched to the scale of the surrounding buildings. A monolith with a white, enameled brick. It stands out in the otherwise anonymous street.

“The volume has a kind of connection to the Book Tower

by Henry van de Velde – they resemble each other.”

- Johannes Robbrecht.

The archive can hold 40 km of material and part of the archive is based underground. The depot spaces are climatized both passively and actively. A high performance all-air conditioning installation meets the strict climate demands.

The ground floor of the closed building consists almost exclusively of glass in an effort to emphasize accessibility.

The reading room exudes calm, functionality and comfort. The skylights ensure optimal lighting. In the public space, the concrete ceilings are left exposed, enabling them to buffer cool night air. Rain water is buffered and used for sanitary use.

7

Drawing Index 09.01 Site plan 1:2000 09.02 Plan 1:200 09.03 Section

1:200

09.04 Facade

1:50

09.05 Section, Archive

1:50

09.06 Section, Library

1:50

09.07 Detail isometric, roof

1:50

09.08 Detail isometric, slab

1:50

9

The State Archive

09.01

Architects: Robbrecht en Daem Year: 2014 Site plan

1:2000

11

Movement through public space /non public

Archive Concert hall

Tram

Bagattenstraat

Contextual relation to public transport and other institutions

12

The old State Archive in Gent was in need to move.

There was a lack of space. The conditioning and the security did no longer meet the contemporary standards in the old archive.

A competition was launched and Robbrecht en Daem took on the task to draw a new State Archive.

The new volume is meticulously matched to the scale of the surrounding buildings. A monolith with a white, enamelled brick. It stands out in the otherwise anonymous street. “The volume has a kind of connection to the Book Tower, by Henry van de Velde, they resemble each other�, says Johannes Robbrecht.

The archive can take 40 km of material, and parts of the archive is housed underground. The depot spaces are climatised both passively and actively. A high performance all-air conditioning installation meets the strict climate demands.

The ground floor of the closed building consists almost exclusively of glass in an effort to emphasise accessibility. The reading room exudes calm, functionality and comfort. The skylights ensure optimal lighting. In the public space, the concrete ceilings are left exposed, enabling them to buffer cool night air. Rain water is buffered and used for sanitary use.

13

14

15

16

The State Archive

09.02

Architects: Robbrecht en Daem Year: 2014 Plan

1:200

17

18

The State Archive

09.03

Architects: Robbrecht en Daem Year: 2014 Section

1:200

19

The State Archive

09.04

Architects: Robbrecht en Daem Year: 2014 Facade

20

1:50

21

The State Archive

09.05

Architects: Robbrecht en Daem Year: 2014 Section, Archive

22

1:50

23

The State Archive

09.06

Architects: Robbrecht en Daem Year: 2014 Section, Library

24

1:50

25

1

5

6

23 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

4

White zink roof Concrete element 20 cm Cavity wall insulation, 14 cm White Glazed tiles, 9 cm Concrete ‘shelves’ Granite tiles 300x300x15, 2 cm The State Archive

09.07

Architects: Robbrecht en Daem Year: 2014 Isometric detail, roof and facade

26

1:50

3

4

12 1.

2.

3.

4.

Concrete Element 20 cm Cavity wall insulation, 14 cm White Glazed bricks, 9 cm Clay

The State Archive

09.08

Architects: Robbrecht en Daem Year: 2014 Isometric detail, slab and facade

1:200

27

Conclusion of the talk with Paul Drossens, archivist at state archive This building is designed to archive 40 km of written material, compared to the old one that could only take 7 km. He likes to work here, and he describes his working place as more functional and in better condition, but sometimes he misses the atmosphere and the location of the old archive.

Digital archiving is coming more and more. This archive was planned before mass digitalization began, therefor they are today struggling with the problem to attract visitors. The building is designed to have more people working here, right now they are 9 persons. The public spaces in the building are large and can take 140 persons, but at the most intense day there were 60.

He tells us about the challenge to get more people to visit the archive and some different ideas in how to do it. He mentions a library as an alternative program which will attract visitors more daily, the archive is also open for students to come under their study-periods.

Though he still talks about the importance of the archive, and to keep the originals, he mentions that they are digitalizing parts of the original work, often the most popular ones.

28

1

2

The State Archive

09.09

Architects: Robbrecht en Daem Year: 2014 1. Existing plan

2. Proposed plan

29

51N4E Founders Johan Anrys Freek Persyn Location Brussels, Belgium Interview by Group 10 Marie Morsing Jacobsen Nanna H. Lundorf Magnus F. Henum Jon Grasdal

COLOPHON Editorial & layout: Anne Beim & Helene Skotte Wied Programme Direction: Frans Drewniak & Anne Beim Authors: Marie Morsing Jacobsen, Nanna H. Lundorf, Magnus F. Henum & Jon Grasdal Published by: The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Schools of Architecture, Design and Conservation Masters programe - Settlement, Ecology and Tectonics Institute of Architecture and Tecnology Philip de Langes Alle 10 DK- 1435 Copenhagen K Denmark

Table of Context Field studies in Belgium - an introduction

2

Interview

4

Case study

6

Drawing Index

10

Site Plan

11

Axonometric drawing

12

Axonometric detail

14

Floor plans

16

Section

20

Interview Background 51N4E are the coordinates of Brussels and the name of the office currently employing 30 people. The office was founded in year 2000 and today the office is led

by Johan Anrys and Freek Persyn - both educated at Sint-Lucas in Brussels. The fact that the office is based in Brussels has a great influence on their work. However, most of their projects are situated in mid-sized and smaller towns in Belgium or in Albania. For 51N4E Brussels represents a paradigm rather than a specific location. It has a certain freedom and as ‘The Capital of Europe’ it is a city of differences in terms of culture and politics.

Vision The practice of 51N4E is not dogmatic and it is not based on a fixed architectural theory. Every single project or commission dictates its own laws. In the beginning 51N4E worked without an architectural manifesto letting each project create its own conditions. After some years in the profession they have developed a large research platform on which many of their projects are based. “...Nevertheless, we have very little presumptions, we determine nothing a priori, we remain open-minded.”

For 51N4E it is about pushing a situation to its limits, to change behavior and to enlarge the influence and collaboration with the public domain. 51N4E describe themselves as ‘space-producers’ who design the environment. They find that the most important job is to collect data and bring it together in new ways.

Work The office is working with 4 programs to help them structuring and sharing their knowledge across different projects. Affordable Living Environments is dealing with the development of new typologies with a special focus on shared spaces and the lifestyles they produce. Territories & Governance is about creating innovative concepts for the strategic steering of territories. Experimental Abodes are experimenting with ambivalent spaces that are both public and intimate. The goal is to investigate how spaces connect to others and to oneself.

The Urban Renewal programme is focusing on the reconfiguration of environments ranging from outdated to abandoned. 51N4E is trying to reframe the problems and to find the interventions, that can make a difference.

The BUDA Factory is an example of this programme.

Resilience & Re-Industrialization Since 2004 51N4E has been strongly connected to Albania and they have developed many projects there. “... Albania is a country with not so many regulations, and this together with a fact that many people are very ambitious.

“We’re very interested in designing in dialogue. We always have workshops with clients and the moment they start to draw themselves - it’s a success for us.”

- Aline Neirynck

ories & Govern Territ anc e

For 51N4E the architect is no longer a single author when creating physical environments. They are very conscious about which tools they use to open up and steer the design process.

4

Affordabl eL i imental per A Ex

des bo

Urb an

al new Re

“I think it’s very important that the architect doesn’t pretend that he’s the most important player in the game. I think he’s important, but certainly not the most important.

He should somehow give back some of the responsibility back to the client or to other parties … not to decline responsibility, but to be very aware that it’s a shared responsibility”. - Freek Persyn

nvironment gE s vin

For us Albania has been a condition where things can be tested and almost new inventions can be made.”

- Freek Persyn For 51N4E Albania has a lot of potential, and the country “...doesn’t need new buildings, it needs to develop a new sense of environment.” Therefore, the Albanian projects are mainly focused on public spaces, infrastructure and surfaces. 51N4E characterizes it as a more social resilient approach to architecture.

The Buda Factory is an example of one of the ways 51N4E works with resilience in the built environment.

This project investigates how one can transform an old fabric into a cultural institution, meanwhile ensuring that the new interventions are robust to the changes of the future.

The office is also conscious about sustainability and ecological resilience. In the development of new projects, they try to take advantage of the qualities of existing ecological systems.

“We must reflect on degrees of maintenance and need to support biodiversity carefully selecting the species to introduce, so as to make outside spaces more resilient.”

“We need to look for the margins that matter, ensuring sustainability through durable materials as well as detailing, thus increasing a building’s ability to last and evolve.

A shell can become truly durable by ensuring low-maintenance, flexibility and affordability over time.”

“We always think what else would happen. And that’s a small question, but with a huge power and importance”.

- Aline Neirynck

Foto: Filip Dujardin 5

Case / Buda Factory, Kortrijk The architecture office 51N4E has designed the transformation of the Buda Factory, an old textile dye plant originating from 1924.

The transformation was completed in 2012 at an extremely low cost, a budget of only 2 mi. €. The Buda Factory gathers artists and companies from different sectors to allow them to inspire each other. It consists of a meeting and networking place for product developers, academics, designers, artists, schools, students and entrepreneurs, as well as exhibition rooms and workspaces.

Context Buda Island is a former industrial area close to the city center of Kortrijk, Belgium, known as the creative makers region. Throughout the 80’s and the beginning of the 90’s, the city’s small industries and private owners were outmatched by larger companies, located in the neighboring regions, resulting in people moving elsewhere.

Since 1992 the political strategy has been to regenerate the city’s image and urban context, integrating creativity

6

and innovation into the city’s development and promotion strategy. The location of Kortrijk amongst neighboring cities, such as Lille, Gent and Antwerp, all culture-infused cities, required a different and innovative approach to culture and creativity. The city needed to stand out in regard of competitive and creative cities.

The Buda Factory One of the major re-generating projects was the transformation of the Buda Factory. The vision behind the Buda Factory, was to offer the public, both locally and internationally, space and a platform for cultural and creative expression.

“It [The Buda Factory] is not an art center, here is where arts meet science… Many sectors in our society need creativity and that is what we did, we built a place where creativity is shared between people from different sectors, we bring together designers with scientists.”

The architects 51N4E, were assigned the project before the programmatic infill was clearly defined, a task the

architects have phrased as “making a design for a zero programme”. Due to the modest budget, the architects saw their contribution as a base for the transformation, since possible interventions at that time were limited. Together with a structural engineer, the architects analyzed the structure and began subtracting volumes, creating a void, where light is able to penetrate the building, as well as facilitating the vertical movement up throughout the building.

“We invested in the circulation because we didn’t know, what the final use would finally, be. So, the circulation makes different programs possible.”

The first conceptual take on creating the void, showed the client the potential of the space, resulting in an open dialogue between the client and the architects, inspiring and optimizing the further interventions of the Buda Factory. An intervention outside the Buda Factory was always part of the plan. The end result was a pavilion, a reflection of the void inside the factory.

“We realized [the pavilion] should drag people inside. The visual aspect of what you do outside should have such an impact, because you have a huge building, which have a lot of program to show, but you only have 16m facade” Tectonics Originally framed by two industrial buildings built in the local red brick, the pavilion, with its yellow bricks, has become a landmark for the cultural institution the Buda Art Centre. The pavilion, a hollow pentagonal space, emphasizes the concept of the subtracted volume inside the building.

The architects only demolished walls when necessary for the circulation, reusing as much as possible and only infilling with the yellow bricks in the void, in order to close the shape.

In the adjoining exhibition spaces, the yellow bricks are visible, making the architects’ intervention visible for the visitors and emphasizing the meeting between the existing and the new.

The architects have utilized the many different properties of masonry. Inside the Buda Factory, the yellow bricks have been used as infill, while they form the bearing structure of the pavilion. The importance of showing

All the installations are exposed

the true tectonic nature of the pavilion was emphasized by the architects: “Otherwise it is a false structure”.

This resulted in the architects using two different bond types. The pavilion is constructed with the ‘Metselwerkverband’, while the infill is constructed with the ‘Stretching Bond’. The yellow bricks were also chosen for aesthetic purposes, as well as conveying the local tradition of masonry.

Ecological issues According to Aline Neirynck, 51N4E had to put ecological issues aside, due to three factors: the prioritization of the pavilion, as well as financial and political reasons.

This generated a lot of questions and debate regarding how we design and transform buildings today in regards to function.

During the design process, the architects and the client discussed how many insulated rooms they needed as a base, with the possibility of implementing more insulated rooms in the future when the budget allows for it. The Buda Factory has only two insulated rooms and everywhere else the architects reused the old window frames, replacing the glass when necessary.

7

Flexibility & service installations The users of the building have a unique way of living with the building because of the ecological issues.

The functions move around along with the seasons. In spring and autumn, they have exhibitions where they showcase art infused with science, which do not need a constant temperature. It is sometimes necessary for visitors to wear their jackets in the exhibitions.

In winter, the building is transformed into a workspace for artists and designers, preparing for new exhibitions.

The flexibility of the building is made possible by the oversized iron structure with integrated electricity and lights, hanging from the beams in each room. The iron structure is strong enough to have an additional beam on top of it, allowing art to be suspended from it. The iron structures offers the client endless possibilities, in regards to rethinking and reinventing the exhibition space.

Resilience From a starting point the architects considered the transformation of the Buda Factory being open to further interventions in the future. A resilient concept, in the sense that the function is resilient to change.

Prioritizing the void and the pavilion in terms of the budget, meant that the rooms adjoined to the void are just well enough to function with electricity and light, but offers the client liberty to transform the space as a current exhibition dictates.

“That is the way it was designed, to make it transform.”

Today, one of the old industrial buildings adjacent to the Buda Factory has been torn down and a new parking complex for cars and bicycles is being built. The architects 51N4E, were able to join the design team for the new parking complex, sharing their knowledge and experience with the Buda Factory.

In the end, they had influence on the final the design, in order to ensure a cohesive motive and volume, without damaging the concept behind the pavilion. “... the nice thing of it [the context] before was it had two bricks and the yellow one in between, but we actually said it would feel to much as if we tried to repeat it, if we just do exactly the same, which is not necessary because the world is moving and we can also think what can it become…”

8

9

Drawing Index 10.01 Site plan 1:2000

10

10.02 Axonometric drawings

1:200

10.03 Axonometric detail

1:100

10.04 Plan drawings

1:500

10.05 Ground floor plan

1:200

10.06 Section from west

1:200

Buda Factory

10.01

Architects: 51N4E Year: 2012 Site plan

1:2000

11

12

Buda Factory

10.02

Architects: 51N4E Year: 2012 Axonometric drawing

1:200

13

14

top detail cavity wall: drain pipe Top detail cavity wall: Drain pipe

Detail of openings: Overhaling concrete beam

detail of openings: overhaling concrete beam

bond type: metselwerkband Bond type: Metselwerkband

Corner detail

corner detail

Buda Factory

10.03

Architects: 51N4E Year: 2012 Axonometric detail

1:100

15

Level 0

Level 1

16

Level 2

Level 3

Buda Factory

10.04

Architects: 51N4E Year: 2012 Plan drawings

1:500

17

18

Buda Factory

10.05

Architects: 51N4E Year: 2012 Ground floor plan

1:200

19

20

Buda Factory

10.06

Architects: 51N4E Year: 2012 Section from west

1:200

21

Studiolo Architecture

Partners Sigyn de Lombaerde and Karolien Vanmerhaeghe Location Gent, Belgium Interview by Group 11 Sara Casey Mikkel Rasmussen Oliver Holm Lehrmann Marcus Frølich InnvÌr

COLOPHON Editorial & layout: Anne Beim & Helene Skotte Wied Programme Direction: Frans Drewniak & Anne Beim Authors: Sara Casey, Mikkel Rasmussen, Oliver Holm Lehrmann & Marcus Frølich InnvÌr Published by: The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Schools of Architecture, Design and Conservation Masters programe - Settlement, Ecology and Tectonics Institute of Architecture and Tecnology Philip de Langes Alle 10 DK- 1435 Copenhagen K Denmark

Table of Context Field studies in Belgium - an introduction

2

Interview

4

Case study

7

Drawing Index

10

Site Plan

11

Section

12

Ground floor plan

14

Photo

16

Isometric drawings

17

Photo

21

Interview Background In the Quattrocento, the Italian noble elite experienced an increased need for privacy. A retreat for reading and meditation found its way into the built form in the shape of a Studiolo. Today this concept serves as the foundation of a small architecture office based in Gent; Studiolo Architectuur.

Near Gent city center, we meet founding partner Sigyn de Lombaerde, who welcome us to Studiolo Architectuur. On the ground floor of a small residential building we are introduced to the rest of the Studiolo, four female architects. Sitting around a small desk with construction papers laid out on the table and a laptop displaying a 3D model, we immediately sense that they know each other well - the atmosphere is relaxed and welcoming.

Sigyn explains that she and Karolien, the other founding partner of Studiolo, met when they were only children their sisters were in the same kindergarten and it was really a coincidence that Karolien asked if they should start an office together. The interest grew and soon they had more work than was fit for two, so they started hiring.

Now, six years later they are five. Even though the firm is bigger, Sigyn explains that they are still the same office.

“We like to know everything.”

Work In the first phase of a project their approach is to think and create together. At Studiolo one single person is never in charge during the creative process. This is due to their belief that when different people team up their personal strengths combined allow for greater results.

“I think you have to be lucky that you just match, that you have different qualities and together you can be working on the same idea.”

We leave the office and walk a few hundred meters down the road to an ongoing refurbishment of a small townhouse. The owner of the house opens the door.

Boxes of paint, plastic covers and materials are stacked along every wall. The owners do much of the work an agreement made especially for this project. Since the couple living there is working during the daytime they start working on their new house every evening at 5-9 4

PM. We talk about budget, materials and longevity. Sigyn explains how she thinks that it is important to build specifically for each family and at the same time introduce how time might affect their future living situation.

Children will grow up and maybe one-day the parents will be living by themselves again. She also explains how many people in Belgium considers very practical issues about their home before building it. She tries to remind her clients that they have to build a house they want to live in - not one to sell.

“If you spend so much money on a project, then it has to be your house, that is our idea.”

As leaving the building project we talk about what is the most typical Studiolo-project; small single- family houses. Sigyn explains how daylight and natural materials play an essential role in their creative process. As an example, in the project we just left they use wood as the finishing for the interior walls, and by introducing a new skylight and opening up the deck above the dining room table, they generously provide daylight to the otherwise darker inner parts of the house. She also mentions how they in new buildings, often end up designing split-levels; the intention is creating the illusion of a larger space.

Vision We ask Sigyn about their overall strategy and she states that; “It is always, I think, quite personal. We never have the same project twice.”

We continue our walk along the road we came from and we visit another building project, just a few houses from their studio. The owner, a mother of three children invites us in and shows us an old extension of their townhouse where Studiolo have reinvented the space. An interior box system has been installed on the upper floor as part of the old construction to create separate private boxes for each of her children.

The old structure has been insulated a little, floor heating implemented and then every box is further insulated.

The project is achieved by sparse and well-used means.

So, the project has transformed an unused attic - into a fully livable teenage space. We then discuss how they have already set up the installations for a future kitchen and how it might be possible to rent out the space one day.

5

Studiolo projects seem to favor using what already exists, while at the same time considering what could one day be. Sigyn explains some of the abilities that she thinks an architect should encompass during the current pressing economic situation in Belgium: “Think smart! What is the most difficult part? Is it the sunlight, the cold winter, the heating system, the holes in the house, the insulation of the floor, or water? Do you have a house standing alone or a house next to other houses? It changes from project to project. I think that you can have theoretical books, but you have to feel what is interesting.”

Resilience We get back to the office and sit down for a cove- fee and a talk about Studiolos general approach. Sigyn de Lombaerde explains some of their latest projects, some finished and some are ongoing. She explains about an approach that she calls: “the egg”, which they have used as a reference for several of their projects. The method is a guide- line for them “to think about the questions of the environment in the city”.

The egg refers to a layering within the structure of the houses, both thermally and consciously. While talking we turn to the relationship between technology and architecture, where Sigyn stresses the job of the architect as being the decision-maker that interprets the numbers and results of modern technology.

“Sometimes you have to think with your head and not through a computer, for example sometimes you have a problem with heating. You have the daylight and the sunlight, in Belgium you have winter and summer like you have…

Sometimes they say that you really have to put some curtains outside because of too much sun heating. But if you think with your head, we might not need curtains because we already made solar shading in the shape of the roof. The computer cannot tell you that.”

“That is also something that is really strange, sometimes you have the project and then you have the really theoretical information you have to give to the man who is doing the calculation and then he wants you to change one meter. Everything is changing! You really have to think sometimes a little bit between the lines.”

6

Case / Corner House, Ghent

Sigyn fetches their material for the ‘Sogent’ com- petition for the corner house on Joseph Veerstraat 3, in Gent.

Studiolo won the project based on an unusual deal with ‘Sogent’. The project handles complex issues in many ways and Studiolo displays their ability to act within terms like resilience and re-industrialization. The corner house in Lederberg has brought new life to the neighborhood.

‘Sogent’ is focusing on renewing urban areas. The intention of this specific ‘Sogent’ project is to revitalize neighborhoods in or nearby the city center, by buying old outdated houses or empty plots, and replace it with high quality housing. The first design competition held by ‘Sogent’ for this project was for the corner house in Ledeberg and Studiolo was chosen to be part of a pool of architects from which families with an average income could chose after they bought one of these plots from ‘Sogent’.

The family that ended up buying the plot in Ledeberg, chose the house from Studiolo. After it was built, new buildings soon appeared around it.

This humble brick house attracted new investments to the neighborhood by adding a wall in the greater cityscape. The project encompasses the egg theory

in the small scale and even in the big. While the house is built based on this idea, it becomes a new focus point in the city context too.

On a final note, Sigyn is elaborating on the con- text in which architects try to navigate. How you try to plan and navigate, but still find yourself in situations that are hard to master.

“Sometimes also you don’t have a choice, for example we prefer to use natural materials, that are healthy. For example, you have floor insulation. The PU - the yellow stuff - if you want to use something different it is really difficult to find something different that’s is not too expensive. So, you don’t need half a meter or one meter to have the same result. Everybody knows that the stuff that they use on floors is so unhealthy […] we don’t have a solution for that, yes you have different materials but you cannot use it because of practical issues or budget limits.”

As an architect, you constantly find yourselves making decisions on what to; keep, take away or to add. This even become more complex when you have to consider the future changes that might happen. You are 7

working under circumstances that are very hard and almost impossible to predict. Sigyn adds a point of view on the typical box-extension that is often seen built in the previously empty courtyard of a Belgian townhouse: “When the box is isolated, and the house is not, or one does not like the added extension anymore, do you take away the boxes or do we take away the house and the box, or do we leave the boxes?”

Two short hours have passed by the drawing table, and we agreed to meet at one last construction site, just outside the city-center of Gent. When we get there, we walk up the staircase inside the construction, up on the roof, where suddenly the architect who is responsible for the site realizes that the constructors have poured too much concrete on the roof terrace. She had already warned the builders to be aware of this, and the only solution now is to add the insulation required, conflicting with the rest of the construction, blocking the skylights in the roof, or maybe starting over with the concrete.

This situation shows that no matter how much you prepare and try to plan in advance, the business of building houses as an architect is inherently messy.

Background The house is situated in Gent suburb Ledeberg, a 20-minute bike-ride away from the center of Gent. The house is part of an initiative made by Gent and was made possible by the ‘Sogent’ organization.

‘Stadsontwikkelingsbedrijf Sogent’ is an independent communal firm of the City of Ghent, who execute the current politics regarding city- development. With economic support from the city of Gent, they buy damaged houses and un- used land. These properties are torn down and the land made ready for construction. ‘Sogent’ sells about 12 plots a year to give young families with average income a chance to build a sustainable and modern townhouse in close cooperation with an architect that is chosen for these lands. In the case of the corner house on Joseph Vervaenestraat, Studiolo won the competition to build one of these houses supported by ‘Sogent’.

Tectonics in architecture is defined as “the science or art of construction, both in relation to use and artistic design.” It refers not just to the “activity of making the materially requisite construction that answers certain needs, 8

but rather to the activity that raises this construction to an art form.” Maulden, Robert1 The load bearing structure We focus here on how the building approaches the issues at the site through its construction. First issue is the noise produced by the heavy traffic at the intersection, next is budget. The project seems to be an attempt to solve the issue of creating a family home at the intersection of heavy traffic on a strict budget.

The house consists of two primary components, a split-level structure and a brick screen that wraps around the structure. The part attached to the other house can be described as a traditional core, with water and electric-installations connected through a main pipe and normal sized rooms with standard heights and materials such as; concrete, wooden window-frames and white painted walls. This is the most private part of the house.

The next layer, the brick screen, is the solution to the loud traffic outside. The brick wall works as a thermal and acoustic buffer of air that includes; the entrance, a passage with storage room, shelves and benches integrated into the brick wall. The gap between the brick wall and the house, results in the main visual impact of the building, through double roof height.

Facade/Building envelope Lastly, we have the brick shell itself, that protects against the outside, while allowing views between the outside and inside through large green-house-like windows.

The brick wall folds around the structural core as a protective element. It works as a large furniture that complies to the many needs of the inhabitants from the inside.

Studiolo Architectuur challenges the classic brick wall, by introducing greenhouse glass, and seating area in a non-isolated façade. The way Sigyn explains it is that they are pulling façade layers and glass away from each other and the classic double-layered insulation is reinvented. This enables a new use of the space, making it somehow an outdoor space inside the home. Since many Belgian homes are townhouses with courtyards or backyard gardens, Sigyn and Karolien felt like they had to create a garden space for the family. And Studiolo calls it the “Winter garden”.

The big glass elements facing the corner explodes the scale of one ceiling height and introduces a new scale in the house, almost an urban scale. This enables the

home to create a relation to the city, while the elevation of the windows is filtering the direct view and noise from the otherwise hectic surroundings.

We see how they use different layers of inside/ outside.

The small inner courtyard where the tensioned roof creates shelter for bicycles, the two-story winter garden where a balcony next to the kitchen in the upper floor breaks the ceiling height, and a roof terrace. The final element is the relation between the house and the small triangular site next to the brick shell. This area is public and before the tree logs and grass were placed outside the house, Studiolo had included the planting of a tree, an elevation of the ground as well as a public bench included in the façade, as part of the ‘Sogent’ competition. Unfortunately, this was never realized due to economic reasons, as the owner of the house did not approve of the bench.

The corner house shows a sensitivity to the duality of private and public spheres, where one attempts to include the positive quality of the busy street life outside into the building through large green-house-like windows.

Also, with its small birdhouses built into the wall, the architects show a holistic and sympathetic approach to building in the city, one does not need to comply to the «concrete jungle» that is the norm many places.

The in-between zone that stretches from the brick wall and to the core allows the inhabitants to choose the degree of contact with the city.

9

Drawing Index 11.01 Site Plan 1:2000 11.02 Section 1:100 11.03 Ground floor plan 11.04 Isometric 11.05 Exploded isometric 11.06 Isometric

10

1:100

Corner House at Veerstraat 3

11.01

Architects: Studiolo Architects Year: 2012 Site plan

1:2000

11

12

Corner House at Veerstraat 3

11.02

Architects: Studiolo Architects Year: 2012 Section

1:100

13

14

N

Corner House at Veerstraat 3

11.03

Architects: Studiolo Architects Year: 2012 Ground floor plan

1:100

15

16

Corner House at Veerstraat 3

11.04

Architects: Studiolo Architects Year: 2012 Isometric

17

18

Corner House at Veerstraat 3

11.05

Architects: Studiolo Architects Year: 2012 Exploded isometric

19

Corner House at Veerstraat 3 Architects: Studiolo Architects Year: 2012 Isometric

20

11.06

21

Studio Thys Vermeulen Founders Tom Thys Jan Vermeulen Location Brussels, Belgium Interview by Group 12 Sarah Sonne Glatz Stine Nielsen Lin Kappel Rasmus Boysen Feddersen

COLOPHON Editorial & layout: Anne Beim & Helene Skotte Wied Programme Direction: Frans Drewniak & Anne Beim Authors: Sarah Sonne Glatz, Stine Nielsen, Lin Kappel & Rasmus Boysen Feddersen Published by: The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Schools of Architecture, Design and Conservation Masters programe - Settlement, Ecology and Tectonics Institute of Architecture and Tecnology Philip de Langes Alle 10 DK- 1435 Copenhagen K Denmark

Table of Context Field studies in Belgium - an introduction

2

Interview

4

Case study

8

Drawing Index

12

Site Plan

13

Site plan

14

Facade

16

Plans

18

Sections

20

Isometric drawings

24

Isometric Detail

25

Photos

29

Interview Background In 1999, the government in Belgium created the architectural institution ”Vlaams Bouwmeester”, which served to improve the architectural quality in Flandern.

The institution issued several open-call competitions with public programs, where also smaller offices were given a chance to participate. Tom Thys won three competitions in a row and from that moment the studio started focusing on projects like schools, youth centers and social housing. In 2007, his partner of the studio back then left the office to work for the cabinet of culture in Belgium.

Tom Thys continued to run the office by himself for a couple of years until he decided the studio needed another partner. The new partner became Jan Vermeulen, who taught at the same university as Tom Thys, the KU Leuven (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven).

Jan Vermeulen previously worked at Sergison and Bates Architects and David Chipperfield Architects in the UK – but he had recently returned to Belgium with his family.

Work Studio Thys Vermeulen mainly works with public buildings, but are always open to engage in new projects and opportunities. They are inspired by

Silhouttes, proportions and families (Credit: Studio Thys Vermeulen)

4

the challenge of making architecture within a limited budget. And by that creating the best possible environments for the people using it. Until now, they have been doing a lot of competitions issued by the government, but over the last few years the amount of projects have been decreasing while the competition from other offices has simultaneously increased.

As a result, they have started working with private developers as well, although they find the procedure and business very different.

Some of the challenges of working with a private developer, is to make sure that you recognize and fulfill the priorities of the developer while maintaining the architectural qualities and the values of the office.

A private developer often wants to make a “great deal” before the general details are even ready, Tom Thys explains. Therefore, the studio now works on making sure that the basic details and materials are always part of the contracts, to make sure that the architectural qualities are not lost in the process. ”As an architect you need to think on a more strategic level about what you want to get out of the collaboration … It is not about the space anymore, it is about the contract”.

Vaals Abbey (Dom Hans van der Laan)

Vision Studio Thys Vermeulen has three themes they reflect upon in every project. Silhouettes, proportions and families.

The theme of silhouettes is often applied when working within complex contexts. By morphing facades and taking on different directions they create a sculptural approach to the volume. When working with proportions Tom Thys highlights his big source of inspiration, architect and monk, Hans van der Laan.

Van der Laan had a theory about ratio and proportions where he thoroughly integrated his algorithm and measures in all his decisions.

The project De Springplank by Studio Tom Thys (the former name of the studio) holds many features similar to Van Der Laans work and especially the Abbey in Vaals shows the same mindset in working with the proportions and achieving the relation between solid and void.

“If you talk about space, we either have an object and this object is generating space around it, or we have a “grotto” - a cave, which has mass taken out and that way creating space inside. You can experience space in both ways, but what interests us is when you see

both at the same time. Like the Rubin vase, where you see the two faces and the vase at the same time. This ambiguity that your brain can swap from one to the other at the same time, that’s an interesting moment.

So, we often are in between two systems and this tension creates an extra dimension.”

The last theme; families is about giving a new building and the existing context a mutual language.

You can do that by taking parts, in term of columns, windows etc., of the existing context and translating them into new architecture. That way you make the architecture speak a common language.

Of course you need to work with all three themes in a project. But you will also see one theme express it self more in certain projects.

Tom Thys refers to another great inspiration of his. “The five Sculptures of Jeanette” by the artist Henri Matisse.

The idea was that Matisse made five sculptures, trying to find the essence of art or people, gradually reducing the facial details ending up with a very abstract face.

Matisse experimented with the thought that you could discover the essence by removing the details.

At the same time, Tom explains, this could be one of the mistakes in the 20th century psychology, because 5

it is just in the details as well that you show humanity.

The message being that you will lose the essence that is in the layering of things, if you reduce the details too much. It shows the importance of the relationship between the totality and the individual parts in architecture. In the end, it is about making honest architecture.

Reindustrialization The financial climate in Belgium is still suffering from the financial crisis. Which results in limited resources for public buildings. If a solution is too expensive it will not be used and Tom Thys describes how the studio often finds it difficult to get engineers and craftsmen who is interested and capable to execute the ideas. That makes it difficult to invent and study new solutions.

One of the challenges is that many of the builders and constructers today comes from especially Poland and Eastern Europe. This reduces the price on the construction of the building, but it also makes complications when it comes to culture,

Sint-Ursula School, Laken, Brussels (Studio Thys Vermeulen)

communication and explaining how to fulfill the project.

The consequence is lowering of the quality of the craftsmanship. As result of that Belgium is still very traditional when it comes to building methods. ”How can you make complex technologies in a building if the craftsmanship is going down? It might be that prefab and industrialization is a solution but I don’t really see that yet.”

Resilience The technical aspect of sustainability is something that has gradually been fused into the studios projects, partly because of the new building standards, which they have to live up to (such as passive buildings and renewable energy). Tom Thys is more interested in talking about cultural and social resilience.

He mentions one of the studios previous projects, Sint-Ursula School in Laken, which they designed a few years back. The catholic school is situated in an area in Brussels that mainly French-speaking Arab immigrants live. This resulted in gradually leaving of pupils of Belgian and Flemish background in the school.

The new school building had to function both as a school and a community center for local- and multicultural activities, and the realization of the school ended up affecting the entire area in a positive way.

The function of the building has become a sort of social infrastructure and the ethnical distribution of pupils is now 50/50. Also, the building is being used all day. This shows how a project can become a social catalyst inflencing a whole area and in that sense become socially sustainable and socially accepted. ”Over 100-200 years a building can have different uses, it can readapt because the structure is strong and solid. We also invested in a kind of solidness in the Laken School so the building can adapt through time.

A school is a place to educate the next generation, so education is as well a sustainable idea and we want to get people used to inspiring spaces. Therefore we are mostly busy with robust architecture.”

Studio Thys Vermeulen has a certain focus on tactile materials and surfaces, mainly brick, which is

6

The building in relation to the existing context - De Springplank, Brugge (Studio Thys Vermeulen, Photographer Olmo Peeters)

often produced locally. The studio does not have a dogmatic approach to the choice of materials, as the architectural expression is overall the most important factor. Often, Tom Thys reasons, it is too complex to understand what is good or bad ecology wise and therefore difficult to choose the materials solely on that account.

However, one must not mistake the studio’s approach to sustainability and resilience as a whole, as they are very occupied with the concept. The studio has done a few passive buildings lately along with many other energy efficient projects. As a teacher, Tom Thys has even written a publication about sustainability, which talks about the major decisions, that can make a project resilient to changes. ”Is my building on the right location? Is it connected to public transport? Is it compact? Etc. The basic decisions are very important. The further you go, the solutions get more expensive and the profit gets

smaller. So you really have to be smart about your basic options.”

In conclusion, to emphasize the studio’s agenda, Tom compares De Springplank to the Sint-Ursula School: ”By establishing this (De Springplank) School building, compared to the Sint-Ursula School in a difficult area, the social impact was of course limited, as it is situated in a middle class area. But the value of the site still increased and came back on track. Before it was neglected, they didn’t use it in a proper way but with the new school building they started to appreciate the site and the beautiful old buildings again and are now very happy with teaching there. Happiness for the middle class is ok as well (laughter). I think we always define sustainability in a cultural and social way, making people happy as a basic idea.”

7

Case / De Springplank Basisschool Basisschool De Springplank was won as a competition in collaboration with Carton123 Architects in 2010.

Before the realization of the project, the primary school was spread over the campus in different rooms. The existing buildings needed thorough renovation to meet the current regulations. Being old and fragile, the renovation could ruin the existing building. Therefore, it was decided to make a new school building that could fit all the school functions and work in relation to the outside playground.

Context The building is located in the UNESCO world heritage city of Bruges. The specific site is in the corner of a neo-gothic complex from 1803 by Louis Delacenserie.

The buildings are rich on details and build in red bricks. These circumstances taken into consideration gave the team a list of challenges like: How do you build inside an UNESCO site? How do you put a new building next to the existing? How do you fit the building in the corner without occupying too much of the playground? Etc. On top of these challenges they also had a very limited budget. Recognizing the possibilities rather than the difficulties, the team approached the challenge and used the limitations as potentials, such as the existing brick wall as a way to connect the new to the old. The team decided to preserve the views to the existing buildings, which ended up shaping the building.

This was done through studies of the oblique lines and directions of the site, creating an accentuated perspective within the playground. When approaching the school from the south you do not see the new building at first, but as you come closer it reveals it self. You then walk by and passes through the gate and the building is revealed once again. It is like a scenography experience and at the same time they respected the existing buildings by not blocking them.

When looking at the facades, one instantly recognizes his use of ‘families’. The new building interprets the columns, rhythms and proportions of the existing buildings. But instead of trying to mimic the richness in detail in the existing complex the school building is designed as a monolithic form with a certain work with proportions.

Spatial experience Like the approach to the building, the building it self is created like a scenography journey. Starting at 8

the covered outdoor space, which is emphasized by the black ceiling leading to the entrance. The inside consists of service on the ground floor and classrooms on the next two floors. By taking advantage of the angles of the building and the fact that public buildings are obliged to have two staircases the team creates to equal staircases.

They create a dynamic distribution space that opens up at the landings. The stairs are painted black to underline the sculptural form and its importance. On the top of the stairs there is big windows overlooking Bruges and providing light to the stairs. The stair and the halls become democratic and dynamic spaces. Tom elaborates on this: “In the beginning, you are connected to the playground, then you walk further up and it is closed, but suddenly you have a window overlooking the city.”

The architectural idea and story-telling seems to be that the children, as they grow up, move from a more protected environment on the lower level viewing only the nearby context, further up, becoming aware of the bigger connection, with the captivating views of the cityscape. The basic planning of the building is simple, three classrooms of the same size on each floor, only the view is different, inspired by Valerio Olgiati and his way to frame journeys through buildings. On the lower floor the classrooms have three windows creating a kind of panoramic view.

On the top floor the trusses are used for creating mezzanines with skylight, creating a spacious experience. All classrooms are experienced different given their direction and location.

Facade/ building envelope The architecture of De Springplank is about the relation between mass and hollows. This fits with Tom Thys’s admiration of Hans van der Laan and his architectural theories. Glass is always experienced dark, so by using dark window frames and recessed windows the holes and the mass are highlighted.

As on the inside all installations are integrated in the form to underline the feeling of mass. The gutters are integrated in the roof. And where there is need for downpipes they are build-in in the brick facade and they are painted in a red color that matches the one of the bricks. bond, which again highlights the massiveness of the building.

9

The entrance - De Springplank, Brugge (Studio Thys Vermeulen, Photographer Olmo Peeters) The foyer - De Springplank, Brugge (Studio Thys Vermeulen, Photographer Olmo Peeters)

10

The classroom with mezzanine - De Springplank, Brugge (Studio Thys Vermeulen, Photographer Olmo Peeters)

11

Drawing Index 12.01 Site plan 1:2000 12.02 Site plan 1:1000 12.03 Facade 1:100 12.04 Plans 1:200 12.05 Section 1:100 12.06 Section 1:100 12.07 Isometric 1:200 12.08 Isometric 1:50

12

12.09 Detail isometric

1:10

12.10 Detail isometric

1:10

De Springplank Basisschool

12.01

Architects: Studio Thys Vermeulen Year: 2015 Site plan

1:2000

13

1

2

3 14

De Springplank is revealed gradually as you walk down the street

3

2

De Springplank Basisschool

12.02

Architects: Studio Thys Vermeulen Year: 2015 1

Site plan

1:1000

15

16

De Springplank Basisschool

12.03

Architects: Studio Thys Vermeulen Year: 2015 Facade

1:100

17

C

A

B

C

B

A

C

A

B'

C

B

A

18

C

A

B

C

B

A

C

A

B

C

B

A

De Springplank Basisschool

12.04

Architects: Studio Thys Vermeulen Year: 2015 Plans

1:200

19

20

De Springplank Basisschool

12.05

Architects: Studio Thys Vermeulen Year: 2015 Section AA

1:100

21

22

De Springplank Basisschool

12.06

Architects: Studio Thys Vermeulen Year: 2015 Section BB

1:100

23

De Springplank Basisschool

12.07

Architects: Studio Thys Vermeulen Year: 2015 Isometric

24

1:200

1

3 2

4

5

1 Integrated gutter 2 Build in sun screen 3 Brick detail to highligt proportions 4 Windows placed deep in the wall to accentuate mass and void 5 Suspended ceiling with dark fibre cement to define the room

De Springplank Basisschool

12.08

Architects: Studio Thys Vermeulen Year: 2015 Isometric

1:50

25

a Brick b Cavity insulation, mineral wool c Reinforced concrete d Mineral wool e Fibre cement f Window still with drip edge, alu

2

1

3 5

4

f

d

e

c

b a

1 Wood 2 PU Cast floor 3 Screed, floating 4 Acustic PE insulation 5 Reinforced NT screed

De Springplank Basisschool

12.09

Architects: Studio Thys Vermeulen Year: 2015 Isometric Detail

26

1:10

a Zinc shingles b Timber battens c Underlayment d Cellulose insulation e Vapor barrier f Woodwool

b

b

f

e

d

a

c

5 7 5 3 4 1 Zinc 2 Timber battens 3 Plaster 4 Rinforced concrete 5 Mineral wool 6 Brick 7 Zinc gutter & downpipe

2 1

5

7 6

De Springplank Basisschool

12.10

Architects: Studio Thys Vermeulen Year: 2015 Isometric Detail

1:10

27

28

De Springplank Red bricks with red mortar in running bond with integrated downpipe

Existing buildings Red bricks and light mortar in english bond 29

V+ Founders Jรถrn Bihain Thierry Decuypere Location Brussels, Belgium

Interview by Group 13 Eline Moe Eidvin Mathias Skjold Larsen Tim Bruun Elin Nilsson

COLOPHON Editorial & layout: Anne Beim & Helene Skotte Wied Programme Direction: Frans Drewniak & Anne Beim Authors: Eline Moe Eidvin, Mathias Skjold Larsen, Tim Bruun & Elin Nilsson Published by: The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Schools of Architecture, Design and Conservation Masters programe - Settlement, Ecology and Tectonics Institute of Architecture and Tecnology Philip de Langes Alle 10 DK- 1435 Copenhagen K Denmark

Table of Context Field studies in Belgium - an introduction

2

Interview

4

Case study

6

Drawing Index

11

Site Plan

13

Site Plan

14

Plan

15

Sections

17

Plan detail

21

Diagram load forces

23

Axonometric drawing

25

Interview Background V+ started twenty years ago with Jörn Aram Bihain and his partner Thierry Decuypere. (V+ = for more wellbeing). Jörn tells us it was a funny period, because they were in the middle of a new generation with a new kind of architects as Rem Koolhas and Zaha Hadid. They started to work in Vienna, but after a while they decided to move back to Brussels and start up there. At the time there was not much work for young architects here. Jörn explains that;

They wanted to do things a different way. Now they look at themselves more as an architectural atelier and not so much as an architectural office. They work hard in periods, but then afterwards they take a lot of free time and vacations, or just come and go as they feel like. Jörn explains that this happened for two reasons.

The first one was that they had enough projects at the time of the decision, and they did not need any more work for a while. The second reason was that they worked so much that they were exhausted.

“The architecture in Brussels was just about promotion and old people got all the projects”-

“I was sick of architecture; I just wanted to do something else.”

The first project they made was a city development project in Brussels, on a site where they needed to join three railway stations. The suggestion, which the municipality considered was very pragmatic and unsocial, so V+ made an alternative plan with focus on people instead of traffic. They called the project Vers Plus; “for more wellbeing”.

Jörn thinks that this way of overworking is a problem in many architectural practices today:

“And that became the name of the office. In French you say “Bureau vers plus de bien-être”.

“Everybody is always working, working, working. In the end all of the philosophy that you put into it in the beginning will fade. All of the engagement, research, experimenting, and so on - it can die. If you don’t have the pleasure anymore, it is no use. It is very important to keep this pleasure.”

In the beginning V+ were quite engaged in making installations in the city. After a while they won their first competition and shortly after they exhibited on the Architectural Biennale in Venice.

Vision Jörn does not like when architecture becomes dogmatic and each project becomes the same. This they try to avoid and the Belgian context gives them freedom to do just that:

“We were a very young office with people from 25 to 29 years old. Completely naive. And we always did expressive things at the same time as solving the tasks from the client”

“We work in Belgium and the typical context is that everything is different. Each project needs focus, and the budget is often small. These parameters give us the opportunity to be authentic and contextual.”

Jörn remembers. And they still do a bit of the same in their projects today:

He simply enjoys making spaces, just the relationship between scenography and the space inside. He likes to dive into very basic aspects of architecture, like space and light.

“When we get a project we always try to find a way to take a step aside, to find something that is in between or an original aspect. That’s what we enjoy. It’s very difficult to explain. And sometimes it happens, and sometimes it doesn’t.”

Work V+ is an architectural atelier, not an architectural office. V+ started as a normal corporate architectural office, but some years ago they found out they were not satisfied and happy with that model.

4

“And sometimes it’s more sculptural. When I made the water tower for example I thought of it more as a sculpture than a building. All of our work balance between that.”

Jörn explains that nowadays V+ mostly makes public projects and they do not make promotions, because they are not in a ‘promotional environment’.

“That’s the bad guy impersonated. In Holland, it’s totally different”, he tells us.

And he does not care about success.

“I don’t give a shit about it. I just want to make good projects.”

When we look at your projects it seems like you always have some weird surprising elements in your architecture?

“Yes, that’s true. There should be room for humor in architecture. And if you don’t find it in the finished project you will find it in our drawings.. Architecture is so boring!”

Resilience / Industrialization When asked about resilience and the state of the building industry today Jörn Aram Bihain states:

Sketch from V+

“I don’t find the subjects of ecological and sustainable architecture like ‘cradle to cradle’ or ‘design for disassembly’ very interesting. You have to have a special occasion to make this kind of projects. And you definitely can’t say it’ll be the solution for everything.

Making projects in the logic of putting things together and afterwards putting them apart means that everything has to be prefab, everything have to be repetitive. I find just that already a huge problem in architecture - that everything is prefab and repetitive.

You don’t create quality in rooms, in light, circulation or meetings in that way.

I think that the most ecological way to build is to make good projects, because then it won’t be destructed.

If you make architecture with good structure, spaces with good proportions, rooms with a good view - then you won’t change it. Okay, maybe you pay a little more for electricity because you didn’t choose the cheapest greenest solution, but it’s better like that.

Of course you have to respect the planet and so on, but most of the problems are made by the industry, and by a few people who make money for money.

Nowadays everybody is like, “I want to think green. I want to make green architecture.” It’s just bullshit! This ecological way of building, ¬in most cases, it won’t make architecture. Architecture is something more than that.”

Conversation with Jörn at the studio

5

Case / Chateau D’eau Site and situation In the area there was already an existing water tower.

Jörn says it was a nice one, but very old made of concrete and it had to be replaced. The water tower is located in an old industrial area and supplies the big companies in the area like Zara and Google, and not private residencies. The nearest city is Mons. The mayor at the time was an ambitious person, Jörn tells us.

“He has built the Calatrava-station, he brought Google and Zara to the area, and so on. He has done a lot of things. Now he wanted a water tower, which could be a monument of a bright future, and a symbol of proudness. And we decided to take part of the architecture competition, which we eventually won.”

Concept Jörn explains the concept by pointing at the twisting pillars: “You get a totally different result if you ask an engineer to make a water tower, than you do if you ask an architect.

Of course it’s stupid to make it like this, it’s not the most logical solution, and it’s more expensive. But we came with other kind of arguments like landscape, silhouette and identity. Part of our argumentation was also that maybe it could be something else later, when the water tower is not needed anymore.”

He tells us that when they started the design process, they quickly went in an asymmetrical direction.

“Our thought was that if you make a symmetrical object in the landscape it’s quite boring. I like the idea that you can understand which side you are on. Like when you are in the mountains you think “Ah, I’m on the north side” when you see the tower. So we were building a movement, because it changes in shape as you walk around it. Very delicately. It offers a silhouette, as we call it in French.”

Another important aspect for V+ was the towers relationship to the people living in Mons. They cannot enter the building, or get to top of the tower, but Jörn wanted them to dream about just that.

“You can dream you are inside, project yourself standing on the top, looking out. And then it’s no longer just an object in the landscape, Jörn explains.”

6

Load bearing structure Jörn explains how V+ used the stability as a main guide and inspiration in the water tower project: “The only important thing with a water tower is a situation where the water has to be up! The stability is also important. It’s a question of structure. We could use the stability as something to give expressivity - as an appreciated guideline. For example if you see an old church, it’s 90 % stability and that is the logic behind the forms and the design in a church.”

The structure consists of a staircase, an X, a V, and an R. These components make the structure stable in all elements.

“I’m sure you can imagine it was quite difficult to make this in concrete, especially since we wanted “the table” or the plinth under the water tank, to be as thin as possible.“ The water tank is 20 meters in diameter and 12 meters tall. Around and in the middle there is a structure of iron, going up through the box on top, to hold the roof and the mesh.

And then four pillars in each corner. He tells us that the mesh is there because the client was afraid that birds could go inside.

“It also gives a more interesting expression. In the day you see a squared box, and in the night, when there is light inside the mesh, you can see the circular water tank.”

As mentioned it was important for Jörn in the design process that the structure at the top was as light as possible, so “the table” could be as thin as possible.

“The plinth is one meter, and it’s made from prefab elements. Inside there is a beam, which is pre-bent so it can take higher pressure. When it flattens out, because of the weight put on top, it is stronger.”

The architects and the engineers made a lot of structural tests especially when it came to thickness of the table, as Jörn defines it.

“How big could it be, how small could it be. I look at the water tower a little bit like a sculpture, like a Giacometti.

Sometimes if something is too big or too small or has the wrong movement or angle it loses its balance.”

Building proces Jörn explains how the tower was built and the challenges involved: “We built the water tower from the ground and up. It was the cheapest way to do it, but it also gave more difficulty. Of course the foundation is quite important, because here you have a basement with a counterpoint, and it had to go quite deep in the ground” V+ collaborated with the best engineers in Europe, and Jörn describes it as a quite complicated building to build, the level of tectonic and structural solutions was high.

The enterprise signed for the project was also not used to making this kind of constructions, so they used a lot of time on confrontations.

“They [the engineers] were used to build in a more classical way, and was not used to build a little then stop, to be careful and to make all this calculations under the building process and so on.”

Axonometric drawing of bearing construction

7

The principle is quite simple. It has a load of 500 tons on each corner and due to the complicated structure they had to build everything onsite and did not use prefab elements, except for “the table”. The order of the casting process of the concrete pillars was also very important, because the structure had two points of equilibrium.

Jörn elaborates and shows how it twist and turn with his hands: “If you build something like this, it starts to do this. It twists and turns. But when it’s finished it’s closed and stable.”

The cross or the X was one of the points with the most tension, and was quite complicated to make. The builders had to go inside and fix the iron reinforcement, go out and close it again repeatedly.

In the middle of the building process of this X, Jörn tells us that the building team had an absurd momentum, where the X and the pillars were just pointing in to the sky, with all the iron sticking out of it in obscure directions. Jörn calls it “the lost architecture” - the things that happen in a building process. ”It’s beautiful like this, let’s just stop here”, we said to each other. It was a magical moment under the building process. And of course it’s a water tower - that’s your client so it’s a complicated installation and system that we had to fit in to the structure. Meetings and measurements.

The water could go there, but if they want to change this it could go there, he says and shows us on the drawings with pipe elements of 600 kg each.”

The second magical moment was when they placed the tank on the plinth, he says, while showing us a video of a crane placing the 70-ton water tank on top of the ‘Giacometti-like sculpture’.

8

Afterlife “So the building is a sculptural expression of what it is: a table, some crazy things and then the water on top. And it works with the landscape. Sometimes it’s vanishing in the sky, and other times you just see it right over the forest.”

Jörn and V+ wanted the same feeling as with the old water tower that you have windows and that you potentially in the future can walk around and look out on the landscape.

“Maybe it is a bit romantic, but this is maybe one of the last water towers built in this area, and quite certainly the last water tower V+ will build. And who knows if it will still be a water tower in 50 years. So that’s why we built it the way we did. The Chateau Deau’s is actually just a table - you can put anything you prefer on top on it. You just need a lift.”

Jörn thinks that this often is a problem with old industrial areas.

“You have huge buildings and infrastructure, but what’s up after the industry stops? You have to think about what will happen with it after. This drawing was a joke. That’s why I drew it in a kind of 19th century spirit. But the point of the drawing is to show that the water tower could have a second and a third life. It could be a restaurant or it could be a .. castle! “

9

Drawing Index 13.01 Site plan

1:2000

13.02 Site plan

1:500

13.03 Plan

1:100

13.04 Section

1:250

13.05 Section

1:100

13.06 Plan detail

1:33

13.07 Diagram load forces 13.08 Exploded axonometric

11

Chateau D’eau

13.01

Architects: V+ Year: 2010 Site plan

1:2000

13

Chateau D’eau

13.02

Architects: V+ Year: 2010 Site Plan

14

1:500

Chateau D’eau

13.03

Architects: V+ Year: 2010 Plan

1:100

15

View at the expanded metal from the inside

16

Chateau D’eau

13.04

Architects: V+ Year: 2010 Section

1:250

17

18

Chateau D’eau

13.05

Architects: V+ Year: 2010 Section

1:100

19

20

Pipe outgoing water

Pipe flooding

Pipe incoming water

Polycarbonate Steel beam Chateau D’eau

Expanded metal

13.06

Architects: V+ Year: 2010 Plan detail

1:33

21

The bearing structure meets the paved surface 22

Chateau D’eau

13.07

Architects: V+ Year: 2010 Diagram load forces

23

Polycorbonate 24

Expanded metal

Chateau D’eau

13.08

Architects: V+ Year: 2010 Exploded axonometric drawing

25