Industry, Ghent
Yard, Robbrecht en Daem, Ghent
Workshop Ernest Salu, Brussels
Courtyard Ramen, Ghent
Experiencing Flemish architecture
In November Studio 1 took the Eurostar across the channel to Belgium. We visited three cities during six days; Brussels, Antwerp and Ghent. During the time spent there we visited ten built projects and buildings in process to be constructed.
The trip started off in the architecturally incoherent capital, yet cosmopolitan and home to the headquarters of European Union. The weather was unreliable and it was freezing cold as we walked the streets of Brussels. The highlight of Brussels was an organized viewing of Ernest Salu funerary Sculptor’s Workshop. The building had lived through three generations of sculptors, Salu I, II and III. The building had been altered through time with large industrial metal frame windows and steel rafters and heavy wooden beams. The structure was exposed and the materials true to their nature. There was a diffused light entering the rooms and you could taste the stone dust on the tip of your tongue. This was an appetizer of what was still to come.
During the following days we were starved for food, not architecture, as we marched through Brussels, Antwerp and Ghent. The endless walking was wearing and the breakdown was unevitable. It was like having a spring clean and we could start fresh again. The enthusiasm grew and the production of sketches and ideas intensified.
The best part of the trip was to meet some truly friendly and open minded people that showed us their work. In all the architecture that we discovered, there was a great care taken from developing and articulating concepts into finishing a project to the last detail. Some of the more memorable buildings were the archive Sint Felix Packhuis by popular Belgian architects Robbrecht en Daem, Marie-José van Hee’s private house on Pig Street and the housing project Ramen Housing by Nollet en Huyghe.
The project that stayed with me the most was the offices of Robbrecht en Daem. What was striking was that they had turned a large scale industrial warehouse into a courtyard in the front of the offices that was located on the side. It reminded me of a big stable with a large riding hall. A garden exposed to the elements was to be placed in one end of the warehouse. The interior was a palette of various unfinished wood, mostly cheap plywood that created a rich pattern. There was a warm atmosphere and a creative buzz in the office. The offices overlooked the warehouse that for the moment lay bare offering a platform for something to be put there in the future. Perhaps an exhibition, perhaps a staff barbecue?
What I will take with me from the Flemish Architecture experience is the sensitivity that I think each of the projects had. The richness, the bare materials, the sensitivity and the way each building reads as a piece of city.
