(1st Prize in International Competition with Jan de Vylder)

(2010 New Aging Awards, Honorable Mention)

 

The competition project asked for the design of a social centre with 50 service flats and the development of an urban vision for the town of Aarschot based on the Robbrecht Daem Masterplan.

 

The site is situated within the line of the old city wall. This constitutes a linear space which rings the historic centre of the city, as identified in the masterplan.

 

The building responds to this by taking on a linear form which is comprised of a series of long thin bars of accommodation describing both the memory of the wall and the potential action of public movement through the site. In response to the more immediate context, the building forms a small public square against the street, which draws it into the urban life of the city.

Three bars of accommodation contain the main elements of the programme. They step up the site, in relation to the surrounding terrain, rising from three stories against the street to four at the rear of the site. A new public staircase rises from the square, forming a new retaining wall to the Eastern edge of the site. This stair gradually climbs to meet the landscape and the hill behind. It becomes a continuation of the existing stone stairs that climb the hill to the tower of the old wall.

 

Individual apartments are clustered around communal spaces within the circulation areas. These are top-lit, partially double height and large enough to accommodate seating areas. They provide places for interaction between the residents and reinforce a sense of community. Kitchen windows from each unit look onto and receive natural light from these communal areas.

 

The fundamental intention of the masterplan is to see the existing conditions as opportunities to be embraced, worked with and strengthened, rather than simply swept away. The four elements which constitute the masterplan might be described as follows:

Wall Buildings - The main building of the project takes on a linear, wall like nature in response to the history and physical nature of its site.

 

Street Buildings - Strengthen the language and rhythm of the existing streets by infilling openings in the existing fabric.

 

Villa Buildings - Follow the language of the existing individual garden villas, which punctuate the street.

 

Mat Buildings - Located in a former industrial area situated between the historic city wall and the streets. These use the horizontal fields of terraces, which have already been cut out of the hill, in order to offer the city, different scales and types of accommodation.