White Cave House is a massive lump engraved by a series of voids interconnected in the shape of a kinked tube. The connection of voids – we call it Cave – is the theme of this house. Internal rooms are designed to enjoy the minimum views of Cave characterized by its whiteness. At the same time, this concept is also the practical solution to realize a courtyard house in Kanazawa city known for heavy snow in Japan.

The client’s original request was a white minimally-designed house with many external spaces, such as a large snow-proof approach to the entrance, a roofed garage for multiple cars, a terrace facing to the sky, and a courtyard. Though a roofed entrance and a garage are desirable for snowy place, it takes so many floor areas away from the internal rooms for the family, while the space and the budget is limited. In addition, courtyard style itself is not suitable to the snowy country because courtyards would be easily buried under snow. To solve the problems, we proposed to connect these external spaces one another into a large single tube, or Cave, and have each part serve multiple purposes in order to make up for the space limitations. We designed Cave unstraight because it prevents passengers outside from seeing through, though it is not closed. By this arrangement, Cave takes a new turn for each part letting in the sunshine while protecting privacy of the courtyard, the terrace, and the internal rooms. The family inside can enjoy the view of Cave changing its contrast throughout a day under the sunshine. Cave also serves as a route to remove snow from the external spaces in winter, otherwise you would be at a loss with a lot of snow in the enclosed courtyard.

In order to make Cave deserve its name more, we wondered if we could add the reflection of water to the house because we thought water is inseparable from white caves. We eventually figured out that the terrace was an appropriate site to place it. The terrace covered by white waterproof FRP holds a thin layer of water like a white basin. On the terrace reflecting the skyview without obstacles, you may feel that Cave has brought you to another world far from the daily life.

Use : independent residence
Site Area : 493.88m2
Building Area : 132.68m2
Total Floor Area : 172.33m2
Completion : June 2013
Design Period : February 2011-September 2012
Construction Period : October 2012-June 2013
Structure : Wood

In the town centre, close to the Place d’Armes, the town of Gournay-en-Bray has just completed a cultural centre which houses a multimedia library and cultural activities. This new centre is built on the site formerly occupied by the Damau factory. The “Workshop” (a reference to the old Damau factory workshops) meets two major challenges:
- building a contemporary structure at the back of the plot by redefining the relationship with its natural environment (gardens, alleys, neighbouring stone walls) and surrounding structures (noble styles, traditional shelters, buildings with character)
- ensuring the new structure is readable in relation to existing buildings by framing the views from the main and secondary entrances.

The Signal Building
With its gables echoing the outline of the existing lodge, the building known as “Signal”, can be recognized by its copper grid cladding. A vertical, eight letter sign (4 metres high) made from PMMA (transparent thermoplastic) has been fitted 4.5 metres from the ground to identify the centre. To ensure it is readable with the semi-transparent grid behind it, the sign is backlit, letting off a soft, unobtrusive light. The main function of this “open air” building is to announce the cultural centre on the high street. As the building has no commercial uses, the sign serves solely to communicate the town of Gournay- en-Bray’s cultural activities. The lettering reflects a contemporary re-reading of signs, a nod to the remarkable style of the advertising panels which, in the past, were so characteristic of rural French landscapes. This building will mainly be used for administrative purposes and is not open to the public. The new EDF transformer substation is located inside the building, with technical platforms providing intermittent displays.

Spaces for cultural activities
The new building – the cornerstone of the project and the face of the cultural hub within – is in perfect harmony with the architecture of the town centre. The double sloping lines of the structures of yesteryear meet a contemporary archetype, dressed in dark purple slate and interrupted intermittently, depending on the needs of the programme, by volumes framing the landscape. This type of plane, highly characteristic of the town of Gournay-en-Bray, becomes a thread linking old and new, a free reinterpretation, and a statement in favour of craft and style. The building includes a ground floor (multimedia library and dance school), a partial first floor (music school) and a partial basement (technical premises) which can be accessed from the outside.

With its views onto the garden, it is the only building open to the public. Designed as an H in the centre of the plot, it links the two main bodies in the centre. The body of the Maison des Associations (Local Clubs and Activities Centre) is an extension of the existing structure which lends its truss as a point of connection. The glass-panelled hall presents a generous space for exhibitions. It also serves as a “gateway”, to oversee access to various activities.

The multimedia library Is organized around a journey through life. The adult area is close to the entrance and the deeper visitors venture into the building the closer they get to the children’s areas. The woodwork suggests almost cathedral-like volumes, with a soothing light flooding the reading rooms.

The garden
The sloping gardens around the buildings, present simple “prairie-style” areas of wild grass, where South American dry prairie flowers nestle amongst a lower level of perennial plants. The patio garden at the heart of the Maison des Associations and multimedia library has been designed as a gardening space, a “garden of cutting flowers.” Tended to by the clubs or by external contractors, this space will be a free patchwork of succulent plants, high stems, flowers, clumps, and medicinal plants and will be managed like a prairie: a soft touch with occasional cuts. The old orchard has been preserved. Next to the existing cherry trees, birches give additional depth to the landscape.

The music rooms
The first floor is entirely given over to teaching music. The teaching rooms have been designed around an inner passageway, with an urban feel.

The dance school.
Is located at the end of the left wing, in its corner. It settles into the main building with delicacy and elegance. The same architectural language as the main building or the signal building is preserved, that is to say, a deep purple slate covering and cladding, metal grid shutters and wide windows, referencing the building’s wide prows. These openings in the facade and roof ensures the dance rooms remain well-lit while protecting them from outside eyes.

Dark purple slate
A homogenous material and a natural stone has been suggested for the cladding of the archetypes: dark purple slate from Canada. This is implemented in a traditional manner by the local crafts and trades guild. Its use is often reserved to prestigious buildings, but here it is implemented in streamlined design, masking the gutters, with no overhang on the roof. The whole (facades and roof) creates strong visual continuity. The envelope of scales created by the slates and the reflections of the schist, make the dark purple hue more vegetable than mineral. Thus, the poetry of the gardens and courtyards of the old Damau factory is preserved.

The copper grid
The extensive glass facades are covered, in places, by a copper grid to dress the large volumes and transparent bays, creating intimacy or protection from the sun. This grid appears intermittently on the ground floor and extends over the entire height of the South truss to shield the large meeting room from outside eyes. Furthermore, it enters into conversation with the sign-building at the entrance. The diamond shaped corners of the copper boxes lend them a hard edge which brings them to life. The external gates are made from solid copper.

Larch
The “protruding boxes” which house the reading rooms, the children’s library and the storytelling corner are made from a larch cladding of varying thickness. The wide openings are fitted with external textile blinds to protect them from the sun.

Program: Spaces for cultural activities: multimedia library, music and dance school
Surface: 2 545 m2 SHON
7 700 m2 ground area
Cost of work: 5 790 000 € HT
Schedule: opening: july 2013
competition: december 2006

Il volume del nuovo padiglione delle feste si colloca a nord-est della palestra esistente, nell’ambito del centro sportivo di via leopardi dove ha sede anche la palazzina bar associazioni. L’edificio è stato concepito come un volume articolato che a partire dalla quota bassa, che contiene il blocco dei servizi, si raccorda a quote più alte verso il fronte di ingresso, conferendo più importanza al fronte degli ingressi principali e in modo da rapportarsi più adeguatamente con il volume della palestra esistente. L’involucro esterno del padiglione, la cui struttura è in carpenteria metallica, è costituito da lastre di fibrocemento tipo aquapanel, che ne plasmano anche la superficie a linee spezzate del controplafone, le quali sono determinate dalla trave reticolare centrale di due metri di altezza, che consente di eliminare pilastri al centro e garantisce una maggiore flessibilità nell’uso dello spazio coperto. Il corpo delle cucine e dei servizi alto soltanto 240 cm., è realizzato in muratura di cemento cellulare e copertura in travi HEA e lamiera grecata. All’esterno è stato rivestito con pannelli di legno multistrato verniciati, che senza soluzione di continuità costituiscono tamponamento della muratura o porta di accesso ai vari locali interni. I pannelli di rivestimento in legno, verniciati a smalto in diversi colori che declinano i colori del verde e delle terre circostanti e sottolineano il carattere ludico della struttura, si estendono anche parzialmente a proteggere la parte coperta il cui uso principale sarà quello di salone per le feste e per la consumazione dei pasti cucinati nella struttura chiusa. Le scelte dei materiali e delle finiture sono in parte determinate dalla natura estemporanea della struttura, di cui si prevede un uso esclusivamente nella stagione estiva (gli ambienti interni non sono riscaldati), e dai limiti economici imposti dal programma.

Photo by Giacomo Albo © Sergio Fumagalli. Published on September 13, 2013.

photo by Giacono Albo © Sergio Fumagalli. Published on September 13, 2013.

A summer house for a young family. The site on the Swedish island Gotland in the Baltic Sea is surrounded by open fields to the north and low forest in the south. Local building traditions are important in this region, as well as for the architect and client. The slim volume invites light into the house and makes nature always present. A tarred pine roof adds character to the sheer volume and spans the private bedrooms and bathroom, the indoor and outdoor living room and the guest room. In time, after a number of tar treatments the roof and the façade will have the same colour. Walls, floors, ceilings and kitchen are made of local pine. The outdoor living room is designed for the unstable Swedish summer climate with rain, wind and sun. Exterior sliding shades stop the wind, protects against sunlight and is used to close the house.  

Photo by Joachim Belaieff. Published on September 13, 2013.

Located on the second floor of a block of flats in a residential area of Toledo, the apartment has 6 small rooms comprising of a living room, kitchen and four bedrooms, which are all connected via a dark and narrow corridor. Our clients, a couple with no children, require more spacious, comfortable and lighter living areas, without completely changing the original layout of the apartment.

Our proposal is, therefore, to reduce the number of bedrooms and reorganise the rooms in order to make better use of the existing sources of light and ventilation, which will also improve accessibility and energy efficiency.

The main challenge is how to combine the traditional layout with a modern and functional design and how to provide continuity between the various rooms, whilst also allowing them a suitable degree of independence. In order to achieve these objectives, all woodwork will be made to measure: floor-to-ceiling doors disguised within the furniture, wardrobes, chest-of-drawers, bookcases, shelving, kitchen units, etc.

A coloured carpet, contrasting with the pale coloured walls and ceilings, covers the entire floor of the home, reinforcing the continuity between the various spaces. Whilst the size, type and colour of the decorative floor tiles correspond to the scale and identity of each room. As such, the layout works as both a sequence of individual units as well as a singular, continuous space.

The use of traditional material for joining, such as hydraulic cement tiles, is closely linked to the owners’ family memories. This type of flooring is produced locally by hand, allowing us to qualify the pigmentation of the decorative motifs according to needs.

Color research

Floor plan

A change of skin
“Square Vitruve” is a real-estate project in co-ownership built on a concrete slab on the site of the former village of Charonne. It is virtually inaccessible, totally without vegetation and shapeless, and was built in the ‘70s and ‘80s without any consideration for the city and how people use it. Along with the construction of the tramway on the nearby boulevard, the ongoing Major Urban Renovation Project for the Saint- Blaise neighbourhood is opening up this forgotten corner of Paris. The major rehabilitation of this seriously degraded building containing 56 social housing units was carried out while it was in use in a highly complex urban, technical and statutory environment and has played a part in preserving the social fabric of a neighbourhood undergoing massive change.

This intervention on the building’s shell has been conducted in constant dialogue with the city’s council and inhabitants in line with ambitious specifications. These specifications sought to confer a strong identity on the building, foster diversity, imagine new uses and improve the energy performance of a building whose occupants have described it as a “thermal sieve” in order to achieve Paris City Council’s Climate Plan. Basing its analysis on sun studies to assess the impact of the nearby high-rise buildings, Atelier du Pont suggested adding balconies wherever this made sense. This was a simple idea that was hard to put into practice, yet provided the apartments with outdoor areas and completely remodelled the architecture of the façades.

Designed as a kind of clever, oversized Meccano kit on a site that cannot be accessed by heavy plant, this new skin was installed without putting machinery on the concrete slab and using no cranes or pods. The balconies are suspended from the roof, and all the materials and technical solutions have been designed to avoid overloading the existing structure and disrupting residents’ daily life.

Surface: 3,285 m2 (net)
(existing : 3,058 m2 – created : 227 m2)
Cost: €1,800,000 (pre-tax)
Timetable: Completed in June 2013

Structure engineering: EVP Economist: RPO
Green building engineering: PLAN02
General contractor: Eiffage
Supervising office: Qualiconsult
SPS coordinator: YSEIS

socialhousing

Original situation
The rural property lies in a hilly landscape about 12 km from the town of Treia. The ca. 300 years old farmhouse has three storeys, and half of the main building was damaged by fire in 1995. The outer facade of the main building is put under protection by the municipal authority. The complex was completed by two smaller volumes of one level only: the first was a herd and a furnace, the other one was a cantilever roof barn.

Photo: © Hannes Henz Architekturfotograf, www.hanneshenz.ch . Published on September 13, 2013.

Intervention
Intention of the project was the renovation and transformation of the property into a contemporary dwelling and holiday house, with attached guest house and pool. The masonry has been largely preserved and restored, whereas all the wood structure (intermediate floors and roof) where replaced. As part of the renewal of the static structure, the necessary reinforcing precautions for seismic safety, were integrated in an invisible manner.

The architectural language thematizes the combination of old substance and new interventions: sometimes by contrast and sometimes by merging both old and new. For example, the roof was restored in the traditional way (primary and secondary wooden beams, subview with terracotta, roof covering with „coppi“ tiles), while the new intermediate floors and new interior walls are in white plaster. The floors also are made without joints in a hard and clear material. These new white interior surfaces help the reflection of light, giving them the feeling of largeness. In this way it was possible to maintain the relatively small historical apertures in the same dimensions and proportion, whilst all rooms are irradiated by a fresh light.

The original stone wall which divides clearly into two parts the plan of the main building has been respected and largely preserved by the intervention. The northern portion of the house was a ruin after the fire, this ruin has inspired the project. In fact an open ad airy room that goes from the ground floor to roof has been realized. This room includes the kitchen with dining room and three white volumes are inscribed in it, containing the entrance gallery, the staircase and a studio. The southern part of the house is vertically divided in the classic way. On the ground floor we find the living room with a fireplace, while the two upper floors are a total of four bedrooms, each with their own bathroom. The contemporary stainless steel kitchen has a free position in the room and is in contrast compared to the warm atmosphere created by the historic walls that surround it.

The old barn on the east side of the main house was demolished and rebuilt in the same position and with the use of old terracotta tiles, creating the guest house. The south roof has been replaced by an open loggia with outdoor kitchen, in the same dimensions of the existing roof.

The pool was placed in a clear geometric reference between the main house, the guest house and the loggia. The pool with its plastic appearance reminds to a large fountain. The existing accessory building on the north side was used as the heating plant and boiler room. The automatic gate plugs in the same volume. This architectural approach defines and emphasizes the new entrance to the estate. The complex was delimited by a row of pine trees on the west side and an olive grove on the east, and integrates itself with new life in the hills of the Marches.

Beginning of construction: Spring 2007
End of construction: Summer 2010
Property surface: 12’500 m2
Floor space net: 311 m2
Additional effective areas net: 154 m2

Constructor: Impresa di Leo Vito, Treia (MC), IT
Ernesto Coloccioni, Cingoli (MC), IT
Carpenter: 2G Forniture Srl, Treia (MC), IT
Windows: C.I.F.A, Jesi (AN), IT
Kitchen: Arclinea Arredamenti S.p.A., Caldogno (VI), IT

The project works with references to the historical architectural culture of the place and interprets them anew. The traditional natural grey plaster of the façade associated with the simple cube of the modern house detracts themselve from a precise temporal assignment. This house is closely linked to the historical paths from the lake to the village. The terrace with a mountainside courtyard wall, a long bench and natural stone paving has Mediterranean character. The pergola place on the old barn is directly connected with a steep staircase to the house and forms a counterpoint to the new building.

Site area: 617 m2
Floor area: 127 m2
Courts: 13 m2
Outdoor spaces: 84 m2

Completion: 2012
Master builder: Clerici Vitali Dellea SA, 6573 Magadino
Carpenter: Romeo Buss GmbH, 6415 Arth
Plasterer: Paolucci SA, Via A. Pini 32, 6710 Biasca
Windows: Morotti GmbH, 6573 Magadino

Photo: © Hannes Henz Architekturfotograf, www.hanneshenz.ch . Published on September 13, 2013.

The wharf is medieval and assembled with wood. Its identity is kept long beyond the material’s resistance. An identity that allows to change, to replace, keeping all the values. The project develops two spaces: one to unwind with the support of a kitchen integrated in the same material of the walls; other as a sleeping area with a small bathroom and a shower. The construction is entirely finished in reused wood, subjected to the weather that will keep on changing it. The forms, highly archetypal, are designed by the incorporation of the functions in these minute areas, and by the varied inclination of the ceilings that tension the spaces according to their function.

This house is standing on a steep slope in S. Abbondio, it’s designed for two people and their guests. The property adjoins on three sides to existing and new constructions, while to the downhill side it’s attached at the access road and above it provides free views to the Lake Maggiore and to the mountains.  The clear easy-cut volumetry and also the naturalistic materializing of the concrete in the same colour like the natural rocks, integrates the new building with caution in the heterogeneous area. Concrete gets the natural stone of the modern era, the irregularly positioned window perforations maintain the monolith and create a sculptural unit.  Spartan rooms and courtyards open up horizontally and vertically to water, forests and mountains, light and sun, they live from the poetry of nature.  The limitation of a few basic materials like concrete and natural wood, generates a flowing interaction of interior and exterior and a natural archaic atmosphere.

Site area: 599 m2
Floor area: 148 m2
Court: 29 m2
Roof terrace: 36 m2

Completion: Spring 2012
Master builder: Merlini + Ferrari SA, 6648 Minusio
Carpenter: Romeo Buss GmbH, 6415 Arth
Windows: Huber Fenster AG, 9100 Herisau

Photo: © Hannes Henz Architekturfotograf, www.hanneshenz.ch . Published on September 13, 2013.

Il progetto di ampliamento del complesso scolastico di Bagnara di Romagna vuole essere una occasione per ridefinire un luogo pubblico con nuove opportunità spaziali. L’obiettivo è quello di integrare, in un complesso dalla planimetria unitaria, tre corpi di fabbrica realizzati in epoche completamente differenti sotto il profilo estetico/funzionale/economico: 1920-2004-2013.

La nuova collocazione della terza ala del complesso scolastico, allineata nella direzione est-ovest, permette di sfruttare il corridoio esistente al piano primo ed il portico al piano terreno per connettere le nuove aule e laboratori agli ambienti esistenti. In tal modo non viene rivoluzionato il percorso di accesso all’intero complesso scolastico ma viene completato attraverso un suo prolungamento attorno alla nuova “semicorte” centrale. L’edificio di progetto è pensato come una sovrapposizione di due livelli autonomi che permette da un lato di mettere in immediato collegamento le nuove aule con quelle esistenti al piano primo e dall’altro di dare forma ai laboratori del piano terra come ambienti separabili ed utilizzabili anche in un secondo momento (eventualmente anche in gestione autonoma) rispetto al piano sovrastante.

Il corridoio, da semplice spazio distributivo alle aule ed ai laboratori, viene pensato come luogo di incontro e sosta per gli alunni e viene posto in stretto contatto e relazione con il suo corrispettivo spazio di ritrovo e ricreazione esterno, la semicorte, attraverso un suggestivo gioco di affacci al piano primo, attraverso un collegamento diretto, al piano terra. Il nuovo volume di progetto nasce concettualmente come un unico parallelepipedo regolare che poi si articola con un gioco diverso di scavi ed aggetti sui vari lati. Tali “scavi” andranno ad enfatizzare i chiaroscuri e gli effetti di luce ed ombra sui prospetti dell’edificio, rendendo lo stesso estremamente dinamico e plastico, capace di stimolare sensazioni positive in chi lo fruirà. Singolare è il tema del collegamento fra edificio esistente e nuovo volume al piano primo: il corridoio di distribuzione sembra subire uno slittamento rispetto alla sua “naturale” collocazione diventando un elemento a ponte di collegamento con il corridoio esistente e lasciando uno scavo come traccia di questa “tensione”. Proprio ad enfatizzare questa tensione, il volume del corridoio al piano primo viene rivestito in doghe di legno, a tessitura orizzontale.

L’utilizzo di un legno dalla bassa manutenzione, quale ad esempio un larice, aiuta l’intera composizione, facendo meglio dialogare fra loro i vari prospetti e rende decisamente più delicato, elegante, amichevole, piacevole l’intero volume, ingentilendo sensibilmente la sua percezione dai cortili verdi esterni così come dai corridoi vetrati della scuola esistente. Tale scelta introduce anche un interessante tema progettuale di possibile sviluppo nella seconda fase progettuale: una volta terminato anche il piano terra, uno dei problemi che sicuramente creeranno grattacapi all’amministrazione pubblica potrà essere quello del presidio dell’edificio da azioni di vandalismo notturne. Proprio per questo prevediamo, durante la seconda fase, di introdurre pannelli di oscuramento delle finestre anche nel prospetto nord, in legno al piano primo ed in multistrato intonacato bianco al piano terra. In questo modo tutte le finestre del nuovo volume sarebbero protette da eventuali atti di vandalismo (quali lancio di sassi con conseguente rottura delle vetrate) ed il nuovo edificio valorizzerebbe la sua dimensione materica e si offrirebbe all’intera città in due suggestive e “poetiche” immagini: quando non in funzione sembrerà una scatola chiusa, quasi una scultura bianca e lignea che “presidia” ed accompagna gli spazi verdi del cortile; quando in funzione la scatola chiusa si aprirà e diventerà il contenitore aperto e luminoso del sapere e dell’apprendimento della città di Bagnara. Di base a queste scelte vi sta l’intento di saper dosare bene le esigue risorse comunali per riuscire comunque a realizzare una scuola che da sé renda edotti i cittadini di Bagnara e gli eventuali visitatori di una importante ed oggi attuale verità: la qualità si può raggiungere anche, anzi soprattutto, con la semplicità e la sobrietà.

Crediamo che questo progetto, con questa impostazione, possa essere un’importante occasione per comunicare questo messaggio, soprattutto alle giovani generazioni della città che fruiranno del nuovo ampliamento della scuola comunale. La scelta di utilizzare una struttura a pareti in c.a. debolmente armate per mezzo di blocchi cassero in legno cemento è motivata dal fatto che il sistema offre numerosi vantaggi nella fase costruttiva e migliora il comfort dell’unità abitativa riducendone i costi di gestione.

La terza fase: Il progetto prevede un’ulteriore possibilità di sviluppo legata ad una eventuale terza fase di ampliamento. La conformazione planivolumetrica dell’edificio, il dimensionamento della sua struttura portante, la conformazione della sua copertura e la morfologia dei suo spazi interni infatti, permette di poter raddoppiare la superficie costruita attraverso la costruzione di un ulteriore volume ad est che potrebbe essere necessario qualora fra 20 o 30 anni vi sia l’esigenza di un ulteriore intervento di ampliamento.

Un progetto così pensato permette quindi di avere una visione sia a brevissimo che a lungo termine pur preservando i caratteri tipologici ed architettonici delle scelte fatte a monte. La nuova corte quindi potrà mutare e diventare prima una corte aperta verso est, poi una corte delimitata su due lati con le proporzioni tipiche di un complesso inserito in un contesto di centro storico (come sarà fra qualche decina di anni quando attorno alla scuola non vi saranno solo pianure e piccoli complessi residenziali ma probabilmente il tessuto edilizio sarà più compatto).

September 13th, 2013 marks the opening of “Court of Justice” in Hasselt, designed by the architects team of J. MAYER H. Architects, a2o-architecten and Lens°ass architects. After finishing the exterior skin already in 2011, the interior was completed in spring of 2013. The new court of justice is an open, transparent building with direct public access, combining the Court of Justice with a university library and auditoriums for the faculty of law. In keeping with the building’s logistical requirements and safety provisions, the structure is divided into three separate units: courtrooms, the library for students and an office tower with a 64-meters-high panorama restaurant on top from which offers a panoramic view of the city of Hasselt and its surroundings.

Based on a master plan by West 8, the former railway station site has been restructured with a park, public buildings, offices and hotels, as well as urban residential blocks. The team of J. MAYER H. Architects, Lens °Ass and a20-architecten have realized one of the two high-rise buildings, “the new court of justice”, a structure that stands as a contemporary urban landmark of the new district. References in the design process point to both the image of the “tree”, the hazelnut trees in the City of Hasselt’s coat of arms, and steel structures in the once industrial- and Art Nouveau-influenced area

Tenant: Regie der Gebouwen
User: Federale Overheidsdienst Justitie
Square Footage: 20.763 m² above-ground spaces (Offices, Meeting-Rooms, Library, Reception, Cafeteria, Court rooms) 4.694 m² Underground spaces (Archive), 3.384 m² Underground spaces Parking Lot
Construction Time: October 2008 – September 2013
Address: Parklaan, 3500 Hasselt, Belgium

Photo by Philippe van Gelooven . Published on September 11, 2013.

Photo by Bieke Claessens. Published on September 11, 2013.

Photo by Philippe van Gelooven. Published on September 11, 2013.

Diffuse interaction. Imminent interest. Light

Courtyard

An athletics stadium. A municipal sports center. A plot. Two levels. A problem. An opportunity.

Elevation

As part of the remodeling and enlarging works on Fernando Hierro municipal sports facilities, the Town Hall commissioned us to design a storage building in a residual plot located inside the premises.

Overview

It consists on working on an island, a place forgotten for more than the fifteen years of existence of the sports center, a plot on hillside, adjacent to the track on the top level and to the tennis courts at the lower level.

Courtyard

From the outset, a need arose to generate a performance that could suture and connect two levels, two leading sports areas which had been coexisting but that have not understood each other for many years.

Overview

We proposed a two-storey building, thus ignoring the developer’s initial guidelines, obtaining a locker room for athletes on the ground floor, while leaving the entire upper floor for storage use.

Overview

Therefore, we aimed to double the requested area with the same budget, turning a simple and reviled storage area into a store and a new locker room. A complex and difficult but at the same time exciting challenge.

Detail

This was achieved through a performance based on the economy of means, on a particular and specific design, and on the confidence in the type and characteristics of a store.

Overview

Because performance itself is conceived as an opaque volume that is embedded in the ground, a metal crate piercing the topography; basically a store where a colorful changing room has been gestated. Happy together.

Elevation

The whole volume is traversed by two large light boxes that illuminate the locker room, which are ignored by upper usage.

Courtyard

Similarly, the inner courtyards generated on the lower floor are not visible from this level, where they can only be felt and intuited, thus inviting to discovery. Courtyards are only visible from the upper level, but they are not visited, thus completing the poetic ‘wanting but being unable’, ‘with or without you’, misunderstood desire… the store that wanted to be a locker room.