Portfolio

SÉBASTIEN RONCHETTI SEBASTIEN

PORTFOLIO

PROFILE EDUCATION

SÉBASTIEN RONCHETTI MSc. Architecture

Nationality Date of birth

Belgian 02/05/1997

2018-2020

Master of Architecture - Magna cum laude KU Leuven Faculty of Architecture Sint-Lucas Brussels, Belgium

2018-2019

Master of Architecture Università degli Studi Roma Tre Rome, Italy Erasmus+ exchange semester

2015-2018

Bachelor in Architecture KU Leuven Faculty of Architecture Sint-Lucas Brussels, Belgium

EXPERIENCE STUDENT WORK

+32 499 97 13 45 sebastien.ronchetti@hotmail.com

Kapittelhuys, Hoegaarden Waitering 2016-2018

SKILLS Vectorworks 2D Vectorworks BIM AutoCad Sketchup Photoshop Indesign Illustrator Premiere Pro Rhinoceros Microsoft Office Modelmaking Lasercutting 3D printing

LANGUAGES Dutch French English Italian German

Marc o’ Polo Multi-location Inventory Management All Innos, Belgium 2016-2018

OTHER

48 Hour Floorplan Battle Non Architecture Competition 17-18 Oct 2020 Curating Architecture Elective Organisation of the faculty’s 2020 lecture series Hygroscapes International workshop Rome 2019

ACHIEVEMENTS 15 Oct-15 Nov WE ARE THE NEXT GENERATION 2020 Project selected for the exhibition presented by Kortijk Creativity Festival June 2019

Primary Structure Exhibition Kanal Centre-Pompidou, Brussels

Sept 2017

Eugeen een meester - Expo CIVA, Bussels Model and drawings selected

INDEX

BUENOS AIRES

BRAND! BRAND!

UNLOCKED

BRAND!

6

18

MR SPECIFIC

PRIMARY STRUCTURE

OVER

MRS ABSTRACT

REOPENING THE SENNE

CHARLEROI

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34

44

SIZE

WE ARE THE NEXT GENERATION selected for the exhibition presented by KORTIJK CREATIVITY FESTIVAL Running Oct 15 - Nov 15 2020

Year: 2019-2020 Location: Buenos Aires Tutor: Cecilia Chiappini In collaboration with Anneleen Brandt KULeuven Faculty of Architecture

Full project: https://issuu.com/sebastienronchetti -6-

BUENOS AIRES

UNLOCKED -7-

The urban fabric of Buenos Aires was originally designed as a consistent grid. This grid stands for connectivity and mixed use. Though, there are a lot of inconsistencies. Especially in what is considered the city centre, where monoprogrammatic zones such as business districts cause for segregation on a social, political and economical level.

Some of these inconsistencies work together to create a buffer, the border between the consistent grid and the edge of the city with for example the large natural reserve of Costanera Sur.

INCONSISTENT

fragments and fluxes

Our strategy is to use this buffer as a tool for integration rather than segregation and will be carried out through three projects: PASSEO DEL BAJO which will enhance and ameliorate the existing connections.

HIGHLINE 31 which focuses on the reappropriation of infrastructure, to dissolve the borders between fragments.

CONSISTENT grid

FRAGMENTED urban fabric

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CATALINAS NORTE X which is the missing link in the buffer and shows the need for a new type of urban model based on mixed program and accessibility for all.

BUFFER

HIGHLINE 31

of inconsistencies

ELEFANTE BLANCO

GREEN LUNGS

PASEO DEL BAJO

A TOOL FOR INTEGRATION

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PASSEO DEL BAJO Passeo del Bajo is a half-open tunnel, connecting the north and south harbour of the city. The sevenkilometre-long highway is flanked by a linear park, thus providing longitudinal connectivity on a large and small scale. Though, this highway still forms a visible barrier in terms of transversal crossings.

Through a series of inputs (both physical connectors as well as inputs of program), these transversal connections can be extended, from the city grid to the outer limits of the ecological reserve.

This program, available for all, will generate new types of fluxes which on their turn will enhance the existing transversal connections.

STRENGHTENING THE TRANSVERSAL CONNECTIVITY

RESERVA ECOLOGICA COSTANERA SUR

EXTENSION BIKE LANES PUENTE COSTANERA SUR RESERVE EDUCATION CENTRE BIRD WATCHING TOWER

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HIGHLINE 31 Villa 31 is an informal settlement built on a leftover area between the Retiro train station and the northern harbour. Currently a large 6-lane highway is passing directly over and through the settlement.

As the government is planning to relocate this flux over the train tracks, the one over Villa 31 is open for reappropriation.

Our proposal is a re-arrangement of the existing typologies. The built and unbuilt environment are flipped upside down. This allows for a large, qualitative natural green space on the ground floor and a more mixed use program on top of the highline. Thus, the boundary between the grid and the Villa is softened, as the highline not only forms the literal bridge but also becomes a meeting point for both sides.

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REAPPROPRIATION OF THE INFRASTRUCTURAL SPACE Inputs of mixed use accessible for all

Integration with the grid

Villa 31

Infrastructural highway

Shaded public space

Qualitative natural green space

Accessibility Rainwater infiltration

Natural green

Informal housing

Organic

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Informal economy

Releasing pressure through relocation

Elefante Blanco

35 000 M²

35 000 M²

35 000 M²

35 000 M²

35 000 M²

CATALINAS NORTE X In this buffer-strategy, the ground floor of the planned business district of Catalinas Norte II forms the missing link. Thus, in order to guarantee connectivity and integration, the ground floor should remain accessible to all.

Hence, Catalinas Norte X, a new urban model. To achieve this, the bottom floors of the proposed office 40 000 M² towers are relocated to a nearby white elephant, releasing program pressure. This allows the ground floor to be designed around the themes of natural green, connectivity and mixed use program. In this scenario, the eventual design of the towers does not matter, as long as the ground floor remains open VACANT for all, resulting in a shared entrance.

natural green

connectivity

mixed use program for all

1 CASA ROSADA

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new urban model

A NEW URBAN MODEL

RBA CATALI NAS X - A NEW U

TALINAS X L - CA ODE NM

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EUGEEN EEN MEESTER Expo CIVA, Bussels Selected project September 2017

Year: 2016-2017 Location: Erpe-Mere Tutors: Nele Stragier, Johannes Berry, Kristiaan Van Weert KULeuven Faculty of Architecture - 18 -

BRAND! BRAND!

BRAND! - 19 -

Brand!

As an hommage to the retiring Eugeen Liebaut, some of his houses were revisited with the idea of an imaginary fire that destroyed parts of the existing building, providing the base for a contemporary reinterpretation.

The original house, designed for a photographer, had two entrances, one to the private living area and the other to the studio. The monumental chimney is the centerpoint around which the rest of the house unfolds.

In this case, some structural elements, parts of the outer walls and the chimney have survived.

A physical reminder of the old footprint, while the new house grows around them. By re-using these elements, the original boundaries and height differences are re-imagined.

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The new house, a light structure of steel and wood follows a grid perpandicular to the one oblique line on the original floorplan. Thus, an offset is created between the old and new. As both overlap and intersect, parts of the previous concrete and brick structure are accentuated.

As the house opens itself to the south, an inner courtyard between the old and new draws in light for the studio. The chimney, still the centrepoint, is now the connector between the living area and the studio.

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Brussels. Two sites, two projects.

Mr Specific is small-scale. A house dealing with certain issues of this irregular city.

Mrs Abstract is a structue. Large-scale, a proposal for the city of tomorrow.

Year: 2017-2018 Location: Brussels Tutors: Nele Stragier, Yves Malysse, Kobe Van Praet KULeuven Faculty of Architecture - 24 -

MR SPECIFIC MRS ABSTRACT - 25 -

MR SPECIFIC “Between Two Bridges�, a site defined by the way is dealt with its topography. Two bridges cross a small area between hills, leaving a more or less forgotten bottom. Can a house embrace this topography?

A large retaining wall between the two bridges becomes the inspiration for the house in the hill.

An exploration of living behind, through and in a wall.

Four concrete retaining walls form the base for the rest of the house, built out of wood and steel to take shape in between them, resulting in height differences that provide interesting views over and through the different spaces.

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ENTRE DEUX PONTS

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MRS ABSTRACT

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BIESTEBROECKKAAI

Biestebroeckkaai, where industry meets residential areas. Where green spaces meet concrete surfaces.

Where new projects meet the old urban fabric.

Previously, a massive concrete bridge allowed cars to cross the canal.

Now, a new mobility plan has turned this bridge in an oversized remnant of a past ruled by cars.

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Mrs Abstract is a light bridge for pedestrians and cyclists, connecting lost strands of bicycle lanes and continuing interrupted fluxes.

Its long shape provides views over and alongside the canal, but also interacts with the ongoing industry. The light steel structure keeps the contact points with the ground minimal and thus creates an open atmosphere.

One shape formed the base of the entire bridge’s design, inspired by shell structures and the catenary curve.

At a large scale this shape naturally creates separate segments. Thus, providing surfaces for the public as well as docking areas for the industrial activities. Meanwhile, the bike lane on top continues uninterruptedly.

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On a smaller scale, this same shape is used to create separate levels for the different travelling speeds.

This results in different atmospheres. The top creates open views along the middle of the canal. The bottom, on the other hand, gives a more sheltered feeling, as the water reflects on the underside of the structure while walking under it.

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PRIMARY STRUCTURE EXHIBITION Kanal Centre Pompidou, Brussels Selected project June 2019

Year: 2018-2019 Location: Brussels Tutors: Floris De Bruyn & Olivier Goethals In collaboration with Enver Peeters KULeuven Faculty of Architecture - 34 -

PRIMARY STRUCTURE REOPENING THE SENNE - 35 -

Molenbeek, Brussels.

A large parking garage and taxi company dominate the centre of a building block.

The strange footprint of the long central building sparks interest. Upon further investigation, this footprint corresponds with the trajectory of the currently covered Senne.

Our project aims for a future where public space and natural elements are valued higher than the now omnipresent car infrastructure.

By re-opening the Senne, the building block breathes from the inside. Thus, two sites are created, one on each side of the river. The circular footprint of the old car ramp is used to create a game of yin and yang. A circular void in a mass versus a circular mass in a void.

Three buildings are added on the two sites.

An art gallery and a tower with offices and apartments on one side, a theatre on the other.

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The art gallery consists of two layers. The ground floor is open and flexible, while the first floor strictly follows a grid-like structure.

The floor, walls and ceiling of this first floor work together as an oversized waffle slab. Thus, large areas can be covered without support.

This leaves the ground floor completely open except for the loadbearing outer walls and the structural core.

Through the grid-like walls a playful promenade takes shape, almost like a maze, going from the outer shell with views over the Senne to the circular void in the centre.

A monumental spiral staircase forms the bridge between the two exposition floors. The outer wall is pierced, creating a second entrance from the new park along the Senne to the centre Vectorworks Educational Version of the building.

Vectorworks Educational Version

VECTORWORKS EDUCATIONAL VERSION

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The theatre is a place where people can gather for cultural events. The large cantilever entrance is not only inviting, but also acts as a teaser for what this mysterious shape holds inside.

Again, the structural concept was the base for the design and gave it this atypical appearance. A double wall structure, not unlike those from ancient Roman VECTORWORKS EDUCATIONAL VERSION amphitheatres provides stability and creates a corridor which houses the staircases. The inner walls carry the cantilever auditorium.

Large beams between the inner and outer walls filter the natural light from above and add a feeling of openness to the ceiling.

VECTORWORKS EDUCATIONAL VERSION

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This Masters Dissertation consists of three different projects, all dealing with the theme of OVERSIZE.

Year: 2019-2020 Location: Cherleroi Tutors: Harold Fallon KULeuven Faculty of Architecture

Full project: https://issuu.com/sebastienronchetti - 44 -

OVER

SIZE

CHARLEROI - 45 -

G GENERALE ÉNÉR DE BANQUE

Huge in all directions with large vacant office floors, one could easily say that this building is oversized in the literal sense.

Only the hotel on the two top floors and a restaurant on the ground floor are currently in use.

What happens if we open up this fourth floor?

Suddenly, both movements meet. The patio of the hotel continues into the office building.

The buffer becomes a meeting spot. A new dynamic arises within the building. In order to fit in, should this newly created void become oversized as well?

Two movements exist on the inside. An inner patio draws in light for the hotel, while variations in the office floor plates create a vertical openness. Both get abruptly interrupted by the fourth floor, which acts as a buffer between the offices and hotel. A buffer with a lot of potential.

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MONUMENTAL VOID

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The patio that only served a few hotel rooms is now oversized and continues downwards to the office floors. Thus, light gets drawn to the core of the building, opening it up from the inside.

This monumental void also restructures the office floors. In a way, new addresses are created around this shared inner space, making the implementation of different and smaller programs possible.

The ground floor and the mezzanine work together to create a large entrance hall, once the main hall of the bank. Through a flexible faรงade, this hall can become an extension of the public space and vice versa. A monumental spiral staircase leads the visitor both visually and physically to the inner void where the rest of the promenade continues.

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The south faรงade, a massive blind brick wall, is lowered with two floors, exposing the inner circulation shaft and providing an outdoor terrace on the fourth floor.

The newly created horizontal openness of this fourth floor contrasts with the massive brick wall. It is a visual representation of the difference in program on the inside.

The inner vertical movement reveals itself through window openings at both sides of the core, while also allowing light to reach the deepest parts of the building.

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É TERRIL DES VALLEES

The industrial city of Charleroi is known for its many terrils, man-made heaps of waste, the side product of mining activities. One of those is the Terril des VallĂŠes. Since its creation it underwent a certain amount of large-scale interventions, not unlike the terril itself.

The most intriguing is the vĂŠlodrome with its clearly oversized stand. Not used for years, its concrete surface is starting to deteriorate, making it too dangerous to perform its main task.

reclaim its place. On the terril, it has more or less succeeded. The heap is covered in trees and now provides a green lung in the city where activities such as hiking and mountain biking take place.

Though this patch of wild nature knows strict borders. Borders with the man-made interventions and the forgotten pieces of land around them.

In the background of these interventions, a second, slower activity can be noticed. One where after each intervention, nature tries to

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NATURAL FOOTPRINTS

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Pre-intervention.

A collection of large man-made footprints in a seemingly natural hill. Around those large footprints are smaller ones. Left-over pieces of land without clear purpose. Some are caused by human activities, such as the top of the hill, where a part remains bare.

These forgotten areas, together with the deteriorating vĂŠlodrome give the entire site a feeling of emptiness.

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Post-intervention.

Trees have been planted, following a strict grid, to fill the unused footprints.

This creates new, natural footprints, since the borders between planted and wild nature still remain clear. Thus, the terril’s identity, both man-made and natural, is now present all over the site.

In time, those borders will fade as the vegetation spreads in between the grid.

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The velodrome is also set to evolve over time. Eventually, as the trees grow, so do their roots, and as the concrete floor further crumbles, the developing cracks make it possible for new vegetation to grow independently from the original grid.

The large stand gets a new purpose.

Spectators do not come to admire the speed of racers, but are now overlooking the slow process of nature that reclaims its place in the city.

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UNIVERSITÉ DU TRAVAIL TRAVAIL UNIVERSITE

Central on the campus, the huge Roullier building is not necessarily oversized. As a school for vocational education, large surfaces are a must. Though, striking is the massive façade towards the main boulevard.

it possible to imagine te façade as a path for circulation. Second, at one location, the rails on the façade are used to display the university’s name. A direct form of communication of what happens on the inside.

At five storeys high and 100 metres long, it lacks any entrance. The brutalist character gives it an anonymous appearance. The horizontal line dominates.

This façade has a lot of potential to become a form of communication itself, in a less literal sense, by enhancing its transparency and making its aspects, currently undersized in relation to the building, oversized as well. Thus, turning it in an actively used façade, exposing the inner activities and promoting interaction.

Yet, two aspects are already present that hint towards a more active façade. First, the double structure of the balconies makes

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ACTIVE FAร ADE FACADE

The faรงade for circulation.

The faรงade as a tool for communication.

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The reconstruction of the original façade through the medium of photocollage allowed for a more tactile representation, where abstract models and CAD drawings lacked that specificity.

The idea of a ramp was formed. An oversized promenade through the different vocational practices.

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How can a large intervention such as this ramp become integrated with the original façade, yet create a new expression of the university’s character to the outside?

How can its brutalist character and horizontal line be preserved while also creating more transparency and openness?

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The ramps connect both the lower boulevard and the playground in a logic movement, continuing further through the façade. Thus, the borders between interior and exterior fade, making from the previously closed façade an open and inviting one.

only happen underground, can now be seen through this oversized façade.

The spaces around these ramps are flexible and allow for different activities to take place. Otherwise hidden activities such as the auto mechanics workshops which could

By purely focusing on the façade and turning it into an active one, the previously anonymous block gets an expressive character where seeing and being seen are key.

A large auditorium visually enhances the movements inside the new façade, while also being a more literal translation of the university’s identity.

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2020

SÉBASTIEN RONCHETTI