Black Box
Reconverting industrial sites to residential areas, Ghent/Belgium
Authors: Edward Weysen, Lore de Baere WEYSEN EN DE BAERE, Architekcts, Ghent/Belgium
Project
The old docks of Ghent are studded with silent remnants of a past industrial era.
Former warehouses, sheds and factories, once actively involved in the industrial
activities of the harbour area, are now abandoned relicts of the past.
Thanks to an ambitious city renewal project and the initiatives of some local inhabitants, this industrial heritage is now being evaluated and reconverted. Amongst them was the project of the young architecture couple Weysen and De Baere.
The aim of their research project was to address the current issues of housing shortages by investigating new, affordable housing strategies, aiming for reutilization of existing structures and former resources of use. Their decision to annex part of the industrial site with a living unit, became a precedent, stimulating a broad range of new initiatives to take over the site.
In their search for a building they could restore themselves, the architects were drawn to an immense old flax barn with shedded roof, steel structure and iron-cast columns. In the design, they tried to reconcile the historical grandeur of the building with the present-day demands for living. Constrained to a building budget of a mere 25.000 euro, the architect couple had the difficult task of rethinking conventional, luxurious loft living to a composition in flexible and affordable living. The result became a housing typology averse to any stereotype, forming a precedent for all people with a small budget in search for their own home.
The precondition of a large non-isolated barn, enforced far-reaching design decisions. Weysen en De Baere opted for an isolated box-like volume with minimal footprint of 3.5 meter to 18 meter, one side fully glazed and directed towards the interior of the original barn. The project reflects on an environmentally conscience living style, stimulating a face-to-face relation to the seasons. It provides optimal isolation during winter within a compact volume, and extends the liveable footprint in summer, when less heating is required. The fully glazed west façade is then opened up to have the old barn becoming part of the living space. To deduce a maximum usable surface inside the box, the architects adopted an open layout. Building mass is restricted to a centrally positioned "functional strip", containing kitchen counter and lavatory. This flexible lay-out allows for different infill of functions. Furthermore a mobile ‘outdoor room’ acts as appendix to these various programs.
Rather then providing for peculiar design solutions to specific preconditions, the project proves to be a valuable new housing typology that can easily be implemented in different contexts. It implies a present-day solution to the rising costs of land property and building practice.
CV
Edward Weysen, Lore de Baere: The young architecture office Weysen and de Baere was founded in 2004 by Edward Weysen (1980, Ghent/Belgium) and Lore De Baere (1980, Roeselare/Belgium).
They both started their studies in architecture at the University of Ghent in 1998. After graduating as ‘Architectural Engineer – Urban Planner’ in 2003, they moved to Zürich to prolong their studies at the ETH. In 2004 they where promoted “Master in the Use of Natural Resources in Building” with their graduation work “Green – A Sustainable Design Approach for the Urban Ecosystem” under the supervision of professor technical engineer Klaus Daniels.
Returning to Belgium in 2004, they founded their own office and designed a housing unit in an old warehouse in Ghent, which they completely build themselves. Being praised as an intelligent exercise in sustainable and economical building on a narrowing housing market, the project got published several times in national and international architecture magazines. It also got nominated for both the Belgian Architecture Awards 2007 and the Belgian Energy Awards 2007.
Next to having a selected amount of private projects, Edward currently works as project leader with OMA, whereas Lore works as project architect with the Belgian office Buro II.
