portfolio FrĂŠderique Vermeyen spring 2015
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Fréderique Vermeyen 10 January 1991 Kollegestraat 71 2440 Geel Belgium frederiquevermeyen@hotmail.be 0474 135 123
education 2012-2015 master of science in engineering: architecture; option urban project; KULeuven; cum laude july 2014 Porto Academy; weeklong summerschool with lectures and workshops 2013-2014
thesis; the nebulous city; latent structures in the Flemish nebulous city
2009-2012
bachelor of science in engineering: architecture; KULeuven
2005-2009 secundary school: science-mathematics (6h) Sint-Dimpna College Geel 2003-2005 secundary school: Latin-mathematics (6h) Sint-Dimpna College Geel
practical education under:
Guido Geenen/Joke Vermeulen Jan Vermeulen/Leo Van broeck Yuri Gerrits/Ward Verbakel
theoretical education under: André Loeckx/Marcel Smets Thomas Coomans/Bruno De Meulder Hilde Heynen
competitions/others summer 2012
Stadsmeubel Turnhout (organised by Master Meubel) competition for a piece of urban furniture at the Warande site
summer 2014
Trivium: Imagine your campus idea competition for a new student centre at the Arenberg Campus shared first place
fall 2014
OpenGap: Creative hotel concept competition for a new typology of rentable artist’s studios third mention (w/Bram van Sever/Jasper Aerts/Tom Lanclus)
skills languages interests autocad Dutch (mothertongue) guitar google sketchup English (good) drums adobe photoshop French (basics) tennis adobe illustrator German (absolute basics) travel adobe indesign film rhino (basics) politics 3
“Always design a thing by considering it in its next larger context a chair in a room, a room in a house and a house in a city” Eliel Saarinen This portfolio attempts to paraphrase ten projects out of five years of architectural explorations and is, in retrospect, not free of doubt. Having said that, I do feel it is a good synthesis of how these exercises have challenged and redefined my approach to designing spaces. Certainly not all of these projects are to be read as finished proposals, as they are more interesting as works of ‘research by design’. They not only explore my own aspirations and interests, but more importantly attempt to reach the essence of a given spatial challenge. Despite the versatile mix of different assignments, scales and focus areas, most of the projects’ qualities originate out of two main processes: questioning a given design brief and perhaps formulating different key ambitions, and composing clear answers to close readings of spatial structures and contextual conditions. This interaction between project and context, and the jumping between different scales, are omnipresent in my (mostly academic) work. There are however still differences in focus due to the different assignments. Some projects tend to focus on the object, the architecture. Others are more about landscape, public space or urban tissue. My favorite group of projects relates to both scales. This leads to three segments with different points of gravity, that will be presented in reversed order: ‘a chair’, ‘a room’, and ‘a chair in a room’.
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a chair in a room Nevelstudies masterthesis; 1 year; 2013-2014 Bruno de Meulder/Guido Geenen guidance: Wim Wambecq/David de Kool with Ian Cappaert/Kathleen de Beukelaer/Sven Mertens
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Crematorium studiowork; 1 semester; 2014 Mauro Poponcini
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Spie/Spil idea competition for the Arenberg Campus; 2014
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Palais de Justice studiowork; 1 semester; 2013 Leo van Broeck/Yuri Gerrits with Bram van Sever/Jasper Aerts/Tom Lanclus
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Molenbeek
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studiowork; 2 semesters; 2011-2012 Goedele Desmedt/Erik Van Daele/Han Vandevyvere with Tom Lanclus/Evelien Lambrechts/Liese van Aert
a room Bodart studiowork; 1 semester; 2012 Guido Geenen/Yuri Gerrits/Jan Vermeulen with Bram van Sever/Jasper Aerts/Tom Lanclus
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Brielen studiowork; 3 weeks; 2013 Ward Verbakel/Wim Wambecq with Olivier van Calster
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a chair Hatching
art installation; existenzweek; 2013 with Gijs Van Vaerenbergh/Tom Lanclus
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School studiowork; 1 semester; 2011 Joke Vermeulen
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Review Pavilion workshop; 3 design sessions; 2014 Ryan Kennihan/Margarida Quinda
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a chair in a room
MASTER THESIS; 1 year; 2013-2014 Bruno de Meulder/Guido Geenen guidance: Wim Wambecq/David de Kool w/Ian Cappaert/Kathleen de Beukelaer/Sven Mertens Working on the nebulous city was a challenging exercise. On one hand there is this fascination for the randomness and complexity of the nebulous city, while on the other hand it still feels like a familiar place. Our research had two main components. First we started to unravel the different urbanisation waves that formed the nebulous city as we know it today. We isolated these different moments and talked about the main characters involved. The effects of these waves were mapped in our individual case study areas. I explored a 10x10km area in the region ‘the Noorderkempen’. A second important research topic was the relation between the climate (water, soil, slope, wind, ...) and the antropological layers like urban tissue, roads, forest structures and agriculture. By doing this we started to discover the influences of the latent structures which formed the nebulous city. Out of these maps we tried to extract the inherent logic of each case study area. This particular section of the Noorderkempen presented itself as a mainly agricultural area with villages rooted on main roads either perpendicular or parallel to the topography. The topography has led to a clear separation in land use between lower and higher parts. an aerial view of the 10x10km focus area, with in the centre Lichtaart
soil + urban tissue 8
topography + forest structures
genesis of the nebulous city (map source: 1770)
shift to a new working and living culture: IR (map source: 1890)
urbanism as a national planning policy (map source: 2005)
a possible worst case scenario for the close future 9
MASTER THESIS; 1 year; 2013-2014 Bruno de Meulder/Guido Geenen guidance: Wim Wambecq/David de Kool individual part
The indivual part starts with focussing on the most distinct part of the 10x10km area: the Kempense Heuvelrug. When analysing the ridge as the area of two adjacent valley flanks, a point symmetric image appears. The ridge and most of the valley flanks are covered by forest, but in other areas, irrigation made agriculture possible. On both sides parallel roads run alongside the ridge, historically mediating between the lower wetlands and the higher, dryer areas. When these roads traverse through forest they are fairly straight and free of any fabric. The roads on the edge between the forest and the agriculture lands, on the other hand, are much more fragmented. These agriculture ribbons are undergoing a shift towards a more mixed-use program. Rather than focussing on the challenges the villages are facing, this thesis focusses on the challenges these ribbons pose. Interestingly at the time of the Ferraris maps these ribbons were of equal importance as the hamlets which would later form the villages. The position of the parallel roads to the topography reveals a relation between them. When analysing the other (historical) roads one finds dike roads in the valleys and hollow roads traversing the ridge. These roads not only react to the topography, they become a part of it. map of the focus area; with the ridge and its two flanks accentuated
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the roads parallel to the ridge consist of straight, building-free roads and slow, fragmented streets that open up housing
the villages of Herentals, Lichtaart and Kasterlee are rather dense islands of urban fabric connected by the fast road
when possible irrigation opened parts of the valley up for agriculture, wetter or dryer parts formed a lineair forest
put together the fabric around the Kempense Heuvelrug can be read as a village story and a (former) agriculture ribbon story
the relation between housing and topography/water as on the Ferraris maps
the focus area portrayed as a shaded-relief map
the main road running parallel to the ridge, conform the slope city principle
the parallel and the perpendicular roads as part of the topography 11
At the crossings between the roads traversing the valley and ridge and the former agricultural ribbons parallel to the ridge an interesting exceptionality occurs. When the hollow roads reach the bottom of the steep slope, there is an ambiguous zone where the roads are at the same level as the surrounding landscape, before continuing their way into the valley as dike roads.
Goor
These ambiguous zones correlate with the shifting position between different sections of agricultural ribbons, resulting in an extraordinary ‘moment’ where the fabric of the ribbon redirects itself, perpendicular to the ridge and valley. The height difference between road and landscape in the hollow roads and dike roads constrain the fabric in north and south direction. This ‘moment’ occurs three times in the (former) argricultural ribbon south of the Kempense Heuvelrug: in the hamlets Steenstraeten, Hukkelberg and Goor.
Hukkelberg
Steenstraeten
One can now clearly see the extraordinary relationship between the anthropogenic layers such as built fabric, planted forests and agriculture and the latent structures of the nebulous city, being topography, soil and climate. The meticulous reading of this apparently banal agricultural ribbon shows the strong relationship between the built fabric and the landscape, before urban planning as a policy kicked in. the southern agricultural ribbon with the traversing roads, where the fabric redirects, highlighted
a section through the traversing roads shows the relation between the road and the topography and the resulting position of the fabric
the hollow road at the top of the ridge 12
the ending of the hollow road and the beginning of the fabric
a sequens of images showing a walk from the top of the ridge to the valley, passing the east-west ribbons and the redirected fabric
typical detached, low-rise housing in the ambiguous in-between zone
the dike roads in the valley, opening up the occasional farm 13
the agricultural ribbon shown in its current state, with local densifications around the hamlets and an increase in the amount of family houses
the plan is turned 28°CW and showes a 500x3000m area a worst case scenario that would be in line with the current planning policy that requires low-rise, detached family houses with a maximum of 6 houses per hectare “to preserve the rural qualities” the current policy as stated in the applicable RUP would allow for more than 80 additional housing units compared to the current state
the plan is turned 28°CW and showes a 500x3000m area the research by design part of the thesis proposes an alternative that reinterprets the amibiguous zone where the fabric of the ribbon redirects itself as a connection between valley and forest five ‘brackets’ form frameworks that structure and (re)combine the 80 additional housing units on an intermediate scale these brackets also form a collective space which houses collective functions for the neighborhood this way the project contains and reinforces the three hamlets
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bracket 1: This bracket tries to formalise its conceptual ambition by containing the hamlet of Steenstraeten in the westward direction. The outer side of the bracket is continuous and searches affiliation with the open landscape. The inner side is more fragmented and tries to connect with the scale of the urban fabric. The shared kitchen garden at the end of the bracket, the playing field in the centre and the collective plaza in the south not only reinforce the collective ambitions of the proposal, but also try to involve the bigger neighborhood in the project. bracket 2: Bracket two distinguishes itself from the others because it’s concieved as a doubled structure. This is because the hamlet of Steenstraeten is already fairly developped in the eastward direction. The proposal tries to reintroduce and emphasize the north-south direction in the ribbon, while at the same time react to the scale of the surrounding houses.
the hamlet of Steenstraeten with brackets 1 and 2; 500x500m frame
section through the split-level houses in the southern part of the first bracket
section through the nothern part of the second bracket looking towards the valley 16
The doubled structure emphasizes the sense of a collective courtyard opening up towards the landscape. By stepwise exploiting the slope of the natural topography the necessary parking facilities could be partly underground, underneath the collective space of the bracket.
room for collective kitchen gardening
small playing field
parking integrated in landscape
collective plaza that can be claimed informally
collective covered bicycle storage a collective plaza with underground parking
local bus stop
playing field
semi dug-in parking facility
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bracket 3: A local sand dune makes for a curious change in the topography and forest line. Because of this dune the bracket can follow the height line in three steps, each with their own advantages. At the streetside a fragmented volume, here in conceptual volumetry, tries to connect with the fabric of the street. On one side the volume is lifted and gives access to a collective plaza. Adjacent to this plaza, underneath the garden, is a collective space that can be used by the inhabitants of the frame for activities that outscale the size of their private house. Further up the hill the bracket opens up six split-level houses with 72m² big roof terraces. These roof terraces have an introvert quality at the forest side, and a more extrovert quality on the valley side. In the corner of the forest there is a possiblity to construct a higher volume. A collective garden with southern orientation and architecture with outside staircases, open passerelles and see-through appartments celebrate this position. bracket 4:
the hamlet of Hukkelberg with brackets 3 and 4; 500x500m frame
The fourth bracket exploits the openness of building higher up the hill by proposing see-through appartments with an east-west orientation. A collective tennis court and deck function as a stepping stone towards the forest. In the south seven single level houses with front gardens are very suitable for care housing for the eldery who prefer to stay in their own community.
section through the middle part of the third bracket showing the relationship between the roof terraces and the forest 18
collective garden with south orientation
shared garden on top of a bookable multipurpose room
collective sport infrastructure underground parking facilities
parking under a roof plaza with the valley as fourth facade
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bracket 5: The bracket in the hamlet of Goor spans the five meter height difference between the edge of the forest and the flat part of the valley. The stepwise nature of the bracket tries to emphasize the natural topography by sometimes following the slope, but at other moments remaining flat. This way the height difference becomes tangible. The bracket works as an in-between space: on the one hand between two landscapes, but also between the street and the private house. The collective nature of the brackets allows to design houses that open up towards the landscape, rather than fold back on their own plot. At the street side the adjacent farm is reinterpreted as a glass volume which can be used by people to grow their own vegetables. In the south side the bracket embraces the collective garden of the larger volume which is backed up by a small forest. The use of a collective garden makes features such as a swimming pool much more affordable.
the hamlet of Goor with bracket 5; 500x500m frame
The axonometric drawing of the middle volume shows the relation between bracket and house. The bracket remains flat over a length of 60 meter. The front sides of the houses address the bracket, while the backsides follow the natural slope. This creates three different split-level typologies that explore the relationship between landscape and the private house.
a view from within the southern volume, exploring the relation between the interior, the collective garden, the bracket and the wider landscape 20
underground parking under collective square
shared greenery space for farming
collective garden with swimming pool
axonometric view of the middle volume, exploring the relation between the bracket, the house and the landscape 21
CREMATORIUM; 1 semester; 2014 Mauro Poponcini The assignment was to design a crematorium complex near Antwerp, on the edge of the Sint-Anna forest and the left bank the Schelde. In the near future this forest will undergo some major changes, partially due to big infrastructural plans. Parallel to this undertaking, parts of the Sint-Anna forest will be replaced by an ecologically valuable intertidal landscape, with a new ring dike behind it for protection. By placing the entire program in a gentle slope of the future dike, the project takes on a spectators’ position between the edge of the forest and the plateau overlooking the river. The proposal incorporates the fact that the dike has not yet been built, by marking different plains with retaining walls to create punches in the slope. These punches can house the program - which is made up of a columbarium, an ashes and urn field, a big parking and the crematorium itself - without disturbing the surrounding landscape.
a simulation of the infrastructure plans, with the position of the project highlighted
section of the ring dike with the complete program housed in the punches in the gentle southern slope 22
The indoor program of gathering spaces, service rooms, staff facilities, the actual oven part and cafetarias are placed in five tectonic volumes in brickwork, each with it’s own wooden support system. These five volumes are placed around a courtyard with a pond that interacts with the tides, and are connected by a more dynamic, open, glass structure. This allows for an ever changing relation with the outer spaces.
the third level, showing clockwise starting at the top: the cafetaria, the big gathering space, the big service room, the tower with the ovens and the small service room 23
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IDEA COMPETITION; ARENBERG CAMPUS; 2014 shared first place
Because of the continuing growth in the number of students, Campus Arenberg has plans to build a new student centre in the far west of the campus (red rectangle). Parallel to this undertaking, an open competition among students was organised. I used this opportunity to, first and foremost, question the chosen location for the new project.
a possible view in the lounge area
a possible lay-out for the group work rooms
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Looking for a good, meaningful location that’s not only easily accessible because of its central position, but also has the assets to restructure the bigger scale of the campus, is a necessary task. The daily fluxes of students and staff, coming from the Naamsestraat and the Kapucijnenvoer, first meet each other at a spot on the eastside of the Arenberg castle. At this spot, there is a fragile short circuit between the two forest structures of the valley flanks. A grid of trees reinforces this contact point, but at the same time defines the two valley flanks. This location forms the setting for the new building. In the past the campus has always, in a clever way, developed itself on the flanks of the valley, around the Arenberg castle. The current need for a new centrality invites us to question this habit. Nevertheless, building in the valley bank asks for a specific approach. In my proposal, the courtyard typology of the castle is copied but lifted of the ground. The use of columns enables an open plan. This gives the freedom to design many different spaces: group work areas, study rooms or open spaces.
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PALAIS DE JUSTICE; 1 semester; 2013 Leo van Broeck/Yuri Gerrits w/Bram van Sever/Jasper Aerts/Tom Lanclus There is an ongoing debate in Brussels about the future of the courthouse. Its current state as an under-used mastodont has given rise to numerous design proposals. [cfr. Brussels Courthouse Contest: Imagine The Future] The original intention of the studio was to think about the public space around the courthouse, taking one of the proposals of the idea contest as a starting point. Our group did the exact opposite: our approach wasn’t to adapt the public space according to a fictitious future scenario for the courthouse, but to explore how the building could be rethought by letting each side of the courthouse react to the surrounding fabric. The courthouse is a megalomaniac monster. While its north facade adresses the metropolitan character of Brussels, the west facade stands on the edge of the valley, in the Marollen. It’s also interesting to point out that the grain of the urban tissue around the courthouse gets smaller when descending; XL, L, M, S. Our main concern wasn’t the public space, but the non-relation between the public space and the inside of the courthouse. Our proposal introduces a set of guiding public spaces; the square, the spine, the street and the maze, that organise the link between interior and exterior.
conceptual plan showing the proposals in relation to the surrounding fabric
proposal for the Large side (image: J.A.) 32
proposal for the XLarge side (image: B.v.S.)
My proposal elaborates the vision for the Medium scale. On this side the base of the courthouse addresses the Wynantsstraat and the adjacent urban fabric. The street is 100 meters long and has a height difference of 6 meters, while the base of the courthouse remains horizontal. By partially opening up the base, a horizontal gallery is created that introduces a tension field with the descending street. This gallery opens the base to the surroundings and forms a backbone for new programs.
proposal for the Small side (image T.L.)
-XLthe dug out plaza relates to the scale of the Regentschapstraat
-L-Mthe opened up patios mimic the the indoor gallery refers to the scale of structure of the buildings to the east the streets of the neighboring quarter
XL the small infiltrations relate to the scale of the Marollen streets
elevation of the south facade with the Medium intervention, the flat gallery, visible 33
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The use of clean white materials is a returning element through all the proposals. These materials interact with the rough, grey texture of the courthouse itself. In the Medium proposal a white steel structure supports the opened up base. The bottom profiles form a lineair sitting bench, with an integrated guardreal. Deeper in the gallery a white steel frame emphasizes the doorway leading towards the rental spaces of the new functions we propose. A acryl glass is used to attach the window frameless between the existing arches. This way the vaults can be left untouched.
detail sections of the proposal showing the relationship between the different materials 35
MOLENBEEK; 1 semester; 2011 Goedele Desmedt/Erik Van Daele/Han Vandevyverew w/Tom Lanclus/Evelien Lambrechts/Liese van Aert The intent of studio Molenbeek is to develop a masterplan for about 100 housing units, combined with a market place, on a vacant plot in Sint-Jans Molenbeek. Notable about the site are the neighboring former brewery building, the metro station accros the road and the general location of the plot on the border between old and new Molenbeek, next to a major road leading towards the centre of Brussels. The first design choice was to make a direct underground connection with the metro station, ensuring a pleasant route between the station and Brussels. The obtained flux of travellers is a welcome asset for the market place. A second important decision was to reject the building block typology. The generated open spaces react to the need for qualitative public spaces in the area. This creates a diverse set of spaces, each with an own identity and specific quality. Some spaces are public: the station plaza, the market or the urban plaza. Others are collective: the deck on top of the market or the inner garden. This diversity of qualities, combined with pure geometry of the volumes, resulted in a rich but flexible masterplan. the plot in its current condition
top view of the model showing the different open spaces 36
the first design decision was to make a direct underground connection with the metro station
the second decision was to reject the closed building block typology but to create a rich set of open spaces
section showing the underground connection to the metro station and the prolonged ascent on the site
image of the model showing the public connection between the metro station and the site 37
MOLENBEEK; 1 semester; 2012 Goedele Desmedt/Yuri Gerrtis/Han Vandevyverew w/Tom Lanclus In the second half of the studio we elaborated and detailled the first three volumes of the masterplan, together with the metro connection and the adjacent market place. The proposal for the tower consists of a stacking of different appartement lay-outs. This stacking concept introduces the scale of the surrounding fabric into the tower, whilst at the same time safeguarding the tower as a landmark in the bigger area. In the volume parallel to the streets outdoor passarelles on the side of the deck are alternated with big private terraces. This leads to open duplex appartements. The volume perpendicular to the street has a separable office space incorperated in each housing unit with its own entrance point, and a small terrace towards the street. The appartement has a bigger terrace towards the floating deck. The outside stairs are shared with the neighboring volume. The construction of the floating deck is a grid of steel columns and beams that continues in the underground parking space. In the thickness of the construction is room for greenery. view from the model of the project as seen from the metro station
plan of the first level above the sky garden 38
section through the urban plaza, market place, skygarden and tower
section through the cantilever of the tower, the sky garden, the market place and the duplex appartements 39
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a room
BODART; 1 semester; 2012 Guido Geenen/Yuri Gerrits/Jan Vermeulen w/Bram van Sever/Jasper Aerts/Tom Lanclus With the planned demolition of the viaduct at the Bodart site, questions rise about the future of this part of Leuven. The case of the Bodart site fits in a row of urban challenges like the Philips site and the station, exploring the concept of polycentrism. These sites share their position, being on the path of the old ramparts. Since the ramparts were replaced by the ring road, Leuven has grown out of its borders. We recongnize two different parts: the singel, a fast part with tissue plugged onto it, and the vesten, a boulevard with a direct connection with the surrounding fabric. These two systems meet where the Dijle crosses the ring figure, creating an ambiguous zone of transition. We notice that the fast qualities of the singel continue in the Koning Boudewijnlaan and the calm character of the vesten continues in the Kardinaal Mercierlaan. This reading allowed to redefine the part in between, which coincides with the former floodplain.
an aerial view of the site and the surrounding fabric
a site plan of the proposal 44
The Bodart site’s position in between four systems: the vesten, the singel, the park and the inner-city, leads to the proposal not to define the open space, but to equipe it as a flexible space that can be flooded by the four neighboring systems. The natural cracks in plain of the former floodplain, combined with new manmade cracks, create different types of spaces. They also make it possible to host different activities at the same time.
rivers and height differences as natural cracks adding manmade cracks and height differences organise spaces by relation intensity Leuven defined by the ring model
expansion of the city outside the ring maintain existing bycicle connections
open/dense green spaces
open/dense paved spaces
ring as two systems: singel & vesten
site between singel, vesten, park & inner city
different layers forming a landscape
bird’s-eye view showing the relation between the natural, the manmade cracks and the follies 45
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BRIELEN; 3 weeks; 2013 Wim Wambecq/Ward Verbakel w/Olivier van Calster The short studio of ‘Lelijk Dorp’ adressed on the smallest of villages in the Belgian Westhoek. The old road between Ieper and Veurne, which is the lifeline of these villages, will be doubled by a new infrastructure project. The goal of the studio is to explore a possible future for the village of Brielen. We got fascinated by the drawing of the plot-lines. There is a general direction in these plot-lines which is influenced by the topography and the natural drainage direction. But around the main road a different logic of plot-lines occurs. We also discovered that the rainwater drainage from the roofs and the street is purified as one in Ieper, which leads to an undercapacity of the station when there is heavy rainfall. By disconnecting the rainwater from the street and roofs from the black water we disburden the purification station in Ieper and restore the relation between the ribbon and the landscape.
an aerial view of the hamlet Brielen
The use of an open collection and restribution system visualises this renewed relationship. At the same time it forms new public spaces with green qualities. With our proposal we tried to start the transformation from Brielen being a village of the road to Brielen being a village in its ‘genius loci’.
a conceptual plan tries to visualise the drainage path of the water collected in the main street, into the surrounding landscape 48
the plot-lines following the logic of the landscape
current situation with the black water from the houses collected together with the rainwater
the plot-lines following the logic of the road
new situation with black water collected for purification and rainwater flowing back into the landscape
local typography and creek system
an elaborated idea about how this new system could counter the current dominancy of the road figure 49
images of an experiment about controlling different levels of permeability on a exaggerated, conceptual model of Brielen
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a chair
HATCHING; Existenzweek 2013 art installation w/Gijs
Van Vaerenbergh/Tom Lanclus
Hatching is an art installation which was exhibited during the existenzweek 2013. During this week Existenz, a yearly collective of 4th year architectural students of Leuven, organises lectures, workshops, debates and parties in an abandoned (most of the times industrial) building. That year the setting for the week was ‘de Bottelarij’, a former bottling factory of the Stella Artois brewery. When approaching Gijs Van Vaerenbergh to lead a workshop, they counterproposed to build an on site installation. From within the existenz organisation Tom Lanclus and myself were designated to brainstorm and design together with Gijs Van Vaerenbergh, and eventually also to construct the installation. The installation reinterprets the work of American artist Sol Lewitt, who experimented with the concept of superposing different layers of linedrawings to form different hatchings. The installation attempts to convert the pictorial complexity of two-dimensional drawings into a ‘spacial drawing’. The playful combination of scale, transparancy and colour generates a continuously changing image and explores the field of tension between drawing and architecture. At the same time it is a ‘machine à voir’. When exploring the different views, from up close and far away, the installation invites the visitor to experience the scale of the room and its grid of one meter squared columns.
explorations of different colour effects and shapes generated when viewed from different sides and distances 54
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SCHOOL; 1 semester; 2011 Joke Vermeulen The original assignment for this project was to design a building with a public function, more precisely a sporting venue in the city centre of Leuven. A quick studio research rendered that function unnecessary. Therefore our studio got the freedom to define a new function. Inspired by the nearby Freinet elementary school, I decided to think about a new high school typology for the education of tomorrow. The challenge of this exercise was to define the new program and typology while at the same time designing a building that fits into the surrounding fabric. The final proposition consists of a set of volumes which were sculptured to react to the direct environment. These volumes define a square at the front, an alley at the side and a courtyard on the inside. The first volume is the school, which combines standard classrooms with bigger learning areas. The section shows the use of split levels to create different spaces for these functions. The second volume is a small tower with student housing. This tower consists of two times a communal level in between two dorm levels. A small sports room and a flexible cantine form the third volume. These places can be rented during the weekends, giving the project a wider range and larger usability. an aerial view of the project
plan showing the sporting venue, polyvalent room, student housing and the main school volume 58
section through the school volume, showing the split level scheme
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REVIEW PAVILION; workshop; summer 2014 Ryan Kennihan/Margarida Quinda At the end of july 2014 I participated Porto Acadamy, a weeklong summerschool in Porto. Together with 20 international young architects/students, I joined the workshop of Ryan Kennihan, who invited us to look at the city of Porto through the lens of local building traditions, materiality and continuity. We talked about architecture that learns form the past and adapts it, rather than tries to reinvent it. Based on the book ‘Inquérito da Arquitectura Popular em Portugal’ (1961), we made linedrawings of buildings from different centuries, trying to understand the relation between the way they look and the way they’re built. I, for instance, made a section of a window below the dome of the 17th century Monastry da Serra do Pilar. Others investigated a Roman church, a laundry and works by Tàvora, Siza and Souto de Moura.
section of a window in the Monastry da Serra do Pilar
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The last three days we were asked to design a small pavilion for architectural review in the campus garden that incorporates our findings about the local building culture of Porto. My proposal catches the ever changing shadows of the trees, a quality it tries to transfer to the interior space. The light, curved canvas wall and the heavy boulder wall share the same concrete base, that pulls them together to form an enclosed space that is still very much in relation to the garden and the existing Carlos Ramos Pavilion.
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FrĂŠderique Vermeyen Kollegestraat 71 2440 Geel Belgium frederiquevermeyen@hotmail.be 0474 135 123