PORTFOLIO Jeroen Vandervelden
Jeroen E.F.D. Vandervelden MEng-Architect °28-03-1991 Aksel Møllers Have 15 2000 Frederiksberg, DK +32 (0)499 / 18.85.85 jeroen.vandervelden@architect.be issuu.com/jeroenvandervelden
Studying architecture sparked my interest for a deeper understanding of the role of architecture in cities and societies. This resulted in a contextual mindset, and the active engagement in socio-cultural experiments such as Existenz, satisfying my impulse to physically create and interact with built form during my studies. My master ‘urban project design’ enriched my conceptual understanding, and broadened my toolkit. It offered me abstract and socio-economical insights in what design for the future can mean. My graduation thesis linked these underlying motives back to an urban and architectural design, experimenting with what and how to build for future generations. After carrying out the profession for 4 years, I gained further insights in its many aspects. By continuously alternating between competition design, tendering, construction design and constructionsite monitoring, I have developed the ability to enrich the conceptual with the understanding of the practical, and vice versa. I have gained experience working in design teams, as well as individually. I am used to co-operate with both private and public clients. Looking forward, my focus is aimed at working on public projects. I kindly invite you to read my full portfolio.
TRAINING
PROFICIENCY
2013
Master of science in Engineering: Architecture, Urban project Magna Cum Laude. University of Leuven - Department of Architecture, Urbanism and Spatial Planning
2011
Bachelor of Science in Engineering: Architecture Cum Laude. University of Leuven - Department of Architecture, Urbanism and Spatial Planning
2015-...
Woodworking & Furniture design Evening School, CVO Diest
RELEVANT EXPERIENCE 2015-...
Independent architect Design and constructionsite monitoring, various private projects: new, renovation, competition
2013-18
Architect at WIT Architecten, Leuven ( www.wit.eu ) collaborator and project architect, various public projects: competition design, tendering & construction site monitoring
2014
Contributor & collaborator exhibition ‘Projecties: Breuckland. De Voorstad’, Antwerp with Studio Brooklyn, Tom Thys and Ward Verbakel Collaboration: Flemish Architecture Institute, deSingel international arts campus, ASRO, Columbia University, NY Institute of Technology, Planning administration of Brooklyn
2013
Participant Masterclass ‘End of Line’, Brussels Organised by VUB, ULB. Collaboration: ENSAP Lille, UPC Barcelona, IUAV Venezia, Tongji University.
2012-13
Vice-president at Existenz, cultural student organisation
2011
Summer Internship at WIT Architecten, Leuven
DISTINCTIONS 2015-...
Licensed architect (Order of Architects), Belgium after completing 2 year internship.
2014
Border Spectrum: Micro planning exchange between Farragut housing and the Brooklyn Navy Yard Exhibited at ‘Projecties: Breuckland. De Voorstad’, deSingel international arts campus, Antwerp
2012
InDifferent: Transforming the network and creating luxuary spaces Exhibited and presented at ‘Hertogeneiland, an academic reflection’, University hospital, Leuven.
2009-10 2011-12
Various design projects Exhibited at the annual department exhibition, Arenberg Castle, Leuven
Languages Dutch English French German Spanish Danish
native fluent good command notion notion eager to learn
Tools Vectorworks Autocad Revit Archicad
experienced adept notion notion
Illustrator Photoshop Indesign
experienced experienced adept
Office QGis
adept average
Sketch-up Cinema4D V-ray After Effects
experienced average notion notion
Traditional as wel as digitally fabricated model building
catalogue: WIT architecten
Invisible Care
‘Warot’
‘DIVA’
Housing for dementia and psychiatric patients Lubbeek, Leuven
Youth society facilities Herent, Leuven
Museum for silver, diamond and precious metals Antwerpen
2014-2015 WIT Architecten, design architect € 12 000 000 study
2017 WIT Architecten, design architect € 950 000 Design Competition, 1st place
2014-2016 WIT Architecten, design architect € 7 180 000 Under construction
Turnhout Academy
Aula Magna, UCLL
Ginder-Ale Lager
for music, word, dance and Fine arts Turnhout
Dividable auditorium for 550 people Haasrode, Leuven
2013-2017 WIT Architecten: design architect, construction architect and site monitoring € 14 400 000 built
2016 WIT Architecten, construction architect and site monitoring € 3 200 000 built
Renovation of a ‘Lagerkelder’ into housing, offices and commercial functions Merchtem
‘Verbeemen’ railroad housing
Redevelopment GITO
‘Berenschool’
Collective housing as a noise barrier for a busy railroad Mechelen
Converting a school site into housing and communal facilities, Tervuren
Nursery, kindergarten and primary school Berendrecht, Antwerpen
2015 WIT Architecten, design architect € 9 400 000 Design competition, 2nd place
2018 WIT Architecten, design architect Design competition
2011 WIT Architecten, internship € 8 100 000 Design Competition, 2nd place
catalogue: WIT architecten
2015 WIT Architecten, design architect € 14 000 000 Design Competition, 3rd place
Renovatie DOC’s - Schetsontwerp
Ir. Architecten Pieter Steens en Jeroen Vandervelden
EEN VISIE VOOR ORGANISATIE de kern
De organisatie van verdiep +1, + 2 en de zolder wordt herschikt door het invoegen van een centrale nieuwe speler, die meerder functies op zich kan nemen. Een nieuwe, compacte kern heeft zijn massa op niveau +2, en strekt zich uit naar beneden en boven. Het neemt alle dienende ruimtes in zich op: sanitairen, kitchenette, bergruimte, archief en circulatie. Door dit compact te organiseren, krijgen de overgebleven ruimtes, de eigenlijke gebruiksruimten, vrijheid en openheid. Onder de dakvorm zijn deze vrijer van vorm, pakken ze op verschillende wijzen licht, en takken ze op diverse wijze aan op de centrale kern. De kern organiseert daarbij ook de privacy van de verschillende overige ruimtes. Dit door verschillende routes toe te laten enerzijds, en anderzijds door 2 grote akoestisch absorberende wandpanelen die naar wens over de lengte van de kern kunnen schuiven, en zo bepaalde zones kunnen afschermen van andere, of net openstellen. Ook de vrije hoogten van de ruimtes varieren onder het dak. Men krijgt een dubbelhoge werkruimte met veel zenitaal licht, of aan de andere zijde een grotere, maar meer geborgen zitruimte, laag onder de dakhelling. Globaal blijft er dus een open en zo continu mogelijk plan over, met een maximale flexibiliteit en enkele ingrepen die de beperkte ruimte gevoelsmatig maximaliseert.
1. Referentiebeeld: Nis Keuken en trap, met mobiel schuifpaneel - WIT Architecten 2. Referentiebeeld: Kitchennette, De Gouden Liniaal architecten
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catalogue: independent architect
11
Young Architects
Projecties: ‘Breuckland, De Voorstad
‘The Shared Mile’
Design competition for 18 social housing units Averbode
Exhibition on suburbanity, derived from the Studio Brooklyn 2011-2013 collective work deSingel center for the Arts, Antwerpen
Old tram depot as an engine for local economy Sint-Gillis, Brussel
2015 Design architect With Pieter Steens
2014 With Columbia GSAPP, NYIT, ASRO, teh planning adminsitration of Brooklyn and The Flemish Architecture Institute
2014 ‘End Of Line’ Masterclass with Murruvet Aktas, Céline Foubert, Deng Kaiwen
Private residence
Private residence
Offices ‘student association’
for a single man Haacht, Leuven
for a young mother and a child Leuven
Renovation and top-up of Student bar and offices Leuven
2016-2017 Design architect, construction architect and site monitoring With Pieter Steens
2015 Design architect, construction architect and site monitoring
2018 Design Architect with Pieter Steens
catalogue: independent architect
catalogue: student projects
Existenz
A delay of five minutes
‘Indifferent’
Cultural organization Leuven
Landscape intervention near cemetery and abandoned railroad Hoepertingen
Transforming the network and creating luxuary spaces Leuven
2011-2012 Vice-President
2013 KULeuven University project with Jeroen Kessels
2012 KULeuven university project with: Michaël Sarens, Pieter Steens, Reinaart Vandersloten
‘Calevoet’
Border Spectrum: a perfect M.A.T.C.H.
Border spectrum: Micro planning
Housing development Ukkel, Brussel
Master Paper, part 2 Brooklyn, NY
Master paper, part 1 Brooklyn, NY
2010-2011 KULeuven University project with Pieter Steens
2012-2013 KULeuven University, thesis project Mentors Tom Thys, Ward Verbakel
2012-2013 KULeuven University, thesis project Mentors Tom Thys, Ward Verbakel
‘CC Gravenhof’
‘Heterotopia’
Cultural center Hoboken, Antwerpen
Reconnecting the ‘Palais de Justice’ with the urban fabric Brussel
2010 KULeuven University project
2012 KULeuven University project with Bram D’hoedt, Annelies Vanstockstraeten catalogue: student projects
Academy for music, dance, and Fine Arts Turnhout 2013-2017
Central to the Turnova masterplan is the creation of a new art academy that brings together two former academies (music, word & dance and fine arts). The project includes the reconversion of two valuable buildings of the printing industry. An interbellum heritage-listed office building accommodates communal functions and a spacious polyvalent hall. A factory hall with characteristic concrete structure from the same period is being refurbished to ateliers for the fine arts departments. A new building provides excellent rooms for music, word and dance. When designing the new academy, special attention is paid to the layout of the circulation. Space is created for meeting places with different spheres. The ‘piano nobile’ organizes an ambulatory, a central area where all the arts meet and from which the trajectories leave for the different disciplines. The design for the new urban art academy of Turnhout aims to revive the spirit of the old printing buildings - both in reconversion as in new construction. The entire academy is conceived as a “creative factory” where a rational and conspicuous structure together with a rhythm in facade and lighting influence the spaces.
Aula Magna, UCLL Leuven 2016
At the intersection of an old and a new office complex, an old logistic hall was encapsulated. When the site was transformed from office use to a university campus, its most representative space was missing, the aula magna. In 8 months’ time, an auditorium for 550 people was designed and built, as a box in box. The finishing is the architecture: an acoustically performant substructure determines the height of the seating and hallways. Everything above is only white and volume. This is reflected in its construction: a concrete above-ground distribution beam, 2m15 in height, serves to avoid any foundation. It supports a light-weight steel frame top. The depth in between the new box and the existing structure provides some gratuitous extra qualities: a window, a lighting recess, a vestibule. They pierce trough the no-mans land in between, and connect the aula to its surroundings. With its chosen locations of access points, the aula magna connects to both the formal ‘student street’ on +1, as well as giving way to more informal uses, by opening up to previously unprogrammed space on the ground floor, now given back to students to do with as they please.
GITO School redevelopment Tervuren 2018
Converting schoolgrounds into a public realm that unlocks the building block. The urban layout of the township of Tervuren is rooted in Medievel agricultural parcels. When they were converted to housing parcels, they were sliced as very narrow but very deep parcels, resulting in enclosed streetscapes, and very spacious, yet unreachable private backspaces, which even the owners do not use to its potential. A unique opportunity is provided by the “GITO� school, which has breached the parcel structure due to its size and public function. It now leaves the site, leaving behind a congested wedge in the building block. The main school building is the only one we preserve, not necessarily for its heritage value, but for the position it assumes within the block. Perpendicular to all parcels, higher then strictly permitted by regulation, and a focus point for the backsides of all the unused parcels. The nocnhalant attitude of the building introduces a perpendicular circulation (pedestrian only), that allows densification, and reclaims the values of the green spaces that can be found here, but not in Tervuren’s streets. The architecture follows this main scheme. A public passage is guided by newer materials (concrete, whitewashed stone), but once in the center, the introduced red brickwork reminds back to the old garden walls. Next to the old school building, which now houses the public function of a daycare, a lush public garden supports the whole project. With this project, not only an architectural solution to a housing demand is proposed, but a strategy for a qualitative densification is achieved, which is suggested a a leading principle for other developments.
Museum for silver, diamond and precious metals Antwerpen 2014-2016
Just behind Antwerp’s iconic town hall, the former folk culture and ethnographic museum are merged into one new silver and diamond museum. Together with guild houses in the adjacent street, the project almost takes up an entire building block in the historic center. The different buildings provide such a selfevident clustering in programming, that it seems foolish to deny it. It therefore forms the basis for the new organization. Each building can continue to function separately, thanks to internal circulation per cluster. At the same time, this place of historic Guild Houses is problematic and fiercely contested. It underwent a profound transformation in the second half of the last century. Behind the seemingly ancient facades and roof structures, most are reconstructed, with pragmatic concrete structures that betray their true age. This design is about adjusting and delineating hierarchy, about reading the existing carefully and accepting all its complexity or impurity. It’s about preparing the buildings to receive a renewed program. The design therefore avoids to write a new story. A unique and recognizable character for the new museum is really sought after, but it is derived from the existing.
Invisible Care Housing for dementia and psychiatric patients Lubbeek 2014-2015
How can a program of 150 care homes be integrated as “invisible� in the current structure of the Lubbeek village center? A significant increase in (care) housing with many supportive (care) services provides a unique opportunity to revive a depleted village. No care facility as an institute, nor a care campus with a onesided program, but a wide-ranging small scale healthcare network that would boost the community by activating new places and connections in public space. The compaction is hereby used as an instrument for adjusting and strengthening relationships with the valuable surrounding landscape. The intervention revolves around an existing monastery, which has a scale and grain needed to structure the open space. The proposal lightly adapts the monastery, and continues with the addition of properties that clearly aim to guide public space. The somewhat quirky nature of the added characters not only serves as an added value on a scale of the neighborhood, but also primarily addresses the explicit and unique living qualities of the place itself. Different small scale living typologies are tested according to the specific needs of the inhabitants. Architecture and especially the relation to the surroundings, are embedded within, and empower the care needed.
Ginder-Ale Lager Merchtem 2015
The Ginder-Ale brewery once was the engine of Merchtem’s economy. Empty for about 30 years (after some activity in the margin), ‘Martinas’ and ‘Lagerkelder’ remain as proud beacons in a still largely low, unarticulated, and spatially fragmented village center. The Lagerkelder is thick: 54x54m. Darkness at its core. If we want to permanently rebuild and rearrange the Lagerkelder, the need for more light and air is crucial. We design by cutting away, by hollowing out. A generous void with outside climate: from a central garden on level 1 to the public hall on level 2 and a new top level, open towards the skies. Along the open space, private units are available on five levels, the exact destination of which is still flexible. Housing: probably, but also offices or other destinations are available. The public / collective network with private lots immediately introduces a very efficient way transform the Lagerkelder into spaces that are well-suited to today’s building requirements for energy performance, indoor climate, acoustics, etc. A lightweight wooden structure is built per private unit as an isolated ‘box’ built in the concrete structure. The rest may remain ‘cold’. We hereby avoid a complex and expensive facade renovation, by which the existing materiality of the Lagerkelder can remain as the beacon in Merchtem.
Legende
Medica Student Association Leuven 2018
EEN BLIK OP DE ERFENIS Léon Dierickx
Renovatie DOC’s - Schetsontwerp
Ir. Architecten Pieter Steens en Jeroen Vandervelden
Léon up Dierickx (1907-1994) een van de meest Top for the was student association - work and play actieve architecten in het Leuvense. Doorheen heel de stad zijn zijn ontwerpen van van de eerste helft van de 20e eeuw terug te vinden, variërend combined van Nederlands modernisme, naar interbellum art-deco en moderne zakelijkheid.
‘DOC’s BAR’ is a well frequented student bar in the heart of the University city of Leuven. On top sit the offices and hang out spot of the student association of theis faculty of Medecine. De superette Debie in de Brusselsestraat Typerend voor de ontwerpen van Dierickx zijn subtiel gelaagde gevels, die blijk geven van een goede beheersing van de stiel. Experimenten met vernieuwende planvorming en verschillende stijlen resulteerden in een zeer divers oeuvre.
een laat ontwerp van Dierickx. De ratio van het economisch bouwen uit zich in een sober, zakelijk geheel. Er zijn echter wel nog enkele kenmerken van Art-deco zijn terug te vinden, hier grotendeels getypeerd door de inkomluifel, en de modulaire organisatie van de gevelelementen. Het pand is niet opgenomen in de invertnarisatie van Onroerend Erfgoed. Dit neemt echter niet weg dat we graag met respect omgaan met de beeldbepalende elementen van dit pand.
The brief asked for a total renovation and expansion of the upper floors, providing flexible meeting spaces and comfortable working spaces, combined with enough recreational area Het betreft een grondige renovatie van een ouderfor pand, enkel funderingen lijken ouderwho operate the association. thede volunteers te zijn dan de rest van de, voor zijn tijd, moderne structuur. Wat opvalt is dat de architect er destijds niet voor geopteerd heeft een extra bouwlaag toe te voegen, gezien het straatprofiel hier wel aanleiding toe geeft. In dit opzicht ligt er dus zeker een potentieel in het verhogen van de kroonlijst. Gezien er echter programmatorisch ook geen noodzaak hieraan is, zal dit in een eerste schetsontwerp niet onderzocht worden.
As the building itself is listed as valuable heritage (since it was designed by Léon Dierckx, a well known architect from Leuven), the expansion is programmed at the back, to Los van de voorgevel is er, zoals gebruikelijk voor die tijd, minder expliciet aandacht besteed preserve the facade, which is in tradition of the aan de achtergevel of de interieurs. Een grondige verbouwing die zich richt op deze Dutch Objectivity”movement. elementen is dan ook“New zeker geen overbodige luxe, valt grotendeels buiten de scoop van de stedenbouwlundige verordening en leent zich dus ideaal voor dit verkennend schetsontwerp.
A new central core is set in place, which stretches across the width of the building, and takes up all utilitarian functions (kitchen, curculation, sanitary) end hereby divides work and play. Large acoustic sliding panels regulate the interaction between these two, and allow for continuously flexible setups in time. The roof at the back is raised, formally to create the needed extra space, but spacially to create a double height void which brings in necessary daylight and views over de valley of the Dijle.
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1. Gérard Vander Lindenstraat - 1935 2. Hogeschoolplein - 1938 3. Superette DeBie - 1960 (geveltekening)
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Special attention is given to construction methods, with as much prefabrication and plug’n-play methods as possible, since construction has tot take place within the two months of summer break. From the start, the design is conceived as a cross-laminated timber structure, which is fitted beforehand with electric wiring, ventilation and plumbing
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Indifferent - ‘Hertogensite’ Leuven 2012
The indifferent growth of the hospital site gives an impression of chaos and neglect. Several layers are clearly distinguishable in time and result in tensions in the built environment. With a different view, we can find an undiscovered quality. Unique situations allow for unique solutions. The opportunities emerge in form of an urban and social sustainable re-use, by means of reorganization and transformation of buildings into collective forms of living, and by exploiting the typological freedom to attract people as diverse as possible. The binding frame must therefore be replaced. We organize a landscape as new external network. It frames the build environment, introduces public life, and shows the site as one entity. Car- and pedestrian based permeability is intentionally encouraged or discouraged. In built form, a sustainable reuse is the primary objective, as it keeps the identity of this site intact. New buildings, both high rise and infill, organise the public realm and add to the metropolitan character of the site. Alongside old and new, we introduce the ‘urban structures’ as a luxuary space. Seemingly impossible situations, created by their density, can be resolved by recognizing the possibilities in typology, topography, location,…and giving them back to pubic space. This turns the conflict around, while still preserving a notion of collective memory. Next to the urban structures, network connections and buffer functions also serve as quality-providing tools. Their implementation was tested near the VTCB (a tower in a courtyard), as most ‘problematic’ example. Buffer functions are place so that no housing is in direct contact with the passage. All other roofscapes present, on different levels, are given back as roof gardens to the owners.
Network activity
Work vs. Housing
New buildings
Urban Structures
Buffer functions
Existing building
Car accesibility
Passages vs. Private roofscape
Heterogenous materials
3D Landscape
Exisiting situation
Border Spectrum: Micro planning Brooklyn, NY 2012-2013 Master paper, part 1
preservation and stgnation Hier toch speciefiek comHier toch house speciefiek of functions inmuseum thecomyard manders manders museum and visitorhouse centre and visitor centre aanduiden. aanduiden.
Micro planning the exchange between Farragut social Housing and the Brooklyn Navy Yard
Overlappen is begrenzen Overlappen is begrenzen
DUIDELIJKE BORDER Brooklyn’s manufacturing landscape isHEEL regaining HEEL DUIDELIJKE SPECTRUM uitleg BORDER hierbij!!! SPECTRUMand uitleg hierbij!!! traction, with its small scale businesses Verdensen aan de rand aan in dehet rand emerging tech/ creative markets. TheVerdensen Brooklyn voor integratie voor integratie in het van weefsel en orientatie Navy Yard has become a testground for this weefsel en orientatie park (anti-isotropie) van (anti-isotropie) ingeplant programma renewed production. It stresses that park a revision ingeplant programma spreekt beide zones aan. of the boundary condition betweenspreekt different beidefacade zones van aan.de transparante transparante facade van de yard zoned identities in the city is needed. yard BNYDC prporty beslist prporty beslist The chosen site at the yard’s edge offersBNYDC a chance to safeguard and nurture the manufacturing enclave and address the potential of the disadvantaged demographic in Farragut public Hier toch speciefiek commanders house Local activities ented on housing. Both entities will be integrated into themuseum Local activities ented and centre thevisitor larger network of on the Tech Triangle network, and back into the city network life of the the larger aanduiden. greenway greenway and fabric, by implementing a Border Spectrum, both on the scale of a masterplan as well as on Overlappen is begrenzen the scale of a specific building. HEEL DUIDELIJKE BORDER SPECTRUM uitleg hierbij!!!
Farragut, in between the BQE and the yard’s Verdensen aan de rand integratie in het fence is not only physically isolated,voor but their weefsel en orientatie van disadvantaged inhabitants also parkbecame (anti-isotropie) ingeplant programma socially alienated, in between gentrifying spreekt beide zones aan. Hier toch speciefiek comneighbourhoods. With the emergence of the transparante facade van de manders house museum yard and visitor centre Triangle around the Houses, it is time act.beslist BNYDCto prporty aanduiden. The border spectrum introduces a strategy of curated mixed-use functions that allows for a gradual transition of successive compatible Overlappen is begrenzen HEEL DUIDELIJKE uses, from recreational to industrial. This BORDER SPECTRUM uitleg hierbij!!! Local activities way, the 200-year-old fence transforms fromented on the larger network of the aan de rand a strict boundary into an interactive Verdensen exchange greenway voor integratie in het weefsel en orientatie van program, instead of an exclusion device. park (anti-isotropie) ingeplant programma spreekt beide zones aan. transparante facade van de yard BNYDC prporty beslist
A range of basic urban design tools are used to offer a framework for the dilipitaded areas. Vehicular and pedestrian flows, attraction points, densification, greenery, rhythm and ownership address current issues. In between opened up green spaces, two Local activities development zones, one along York street andented on the larger network of the greenway one at the Yard’s edge, are implemented, their architecture corresponding to either the big scale halls and warehouses at the yard or the small scale infill in between the towers. In an architectural design exercise, the spectrum will also be tested on smaller scale.
Private residence Leuven 2015
House for a young mother and a child First commission as an independent architect. The project aims to restore a small former working-class house to its original clarity. Several iterations of increasingly less valuable add-ons were demolished, in order to once again get access to sunlight and experience space. The original floor plan reads as an “enfilade�, a succession of rooms divided by oversized open doorways. The rhythm offers tranquility and legibility. The new garden is seen as an extension of this rhythm, and again divided in areas of roughly the same area. Only organizational elements are added, within the thickness of a custom made thick wall unit: entrance, desk, cupboard, lavatory, stairway... While a lot can happen here, multiple doors are to be avoided to avoid diverging from the original perspective of the enfilade. So instead, one sliding (acoustically absorbing) panel, organizes the main function of the ground floor. It can close of the kitchen cupboard, provide extra privacy for the lavatory, when guests are expected, or close of the stairway to keep an eye on the young child.
Hallway + cloakroom Kitchen Utilities Pantry Lavatory
Cellar and lavatory access Acoustic sliding panel Stow-away desk Dining room Stair access
Living room
Garden
Terrace
Young Architects design competition Averbode 2016
Small scale social housing as key reinforcement for communal activities The site is situated at the edge of an already empty core of the village of Averbode, one that is not able to sustain an active community life. Urban planning anticipates a densification of this core, but the Flemish inhabitant has to be convinced to stop building in allotments, and start living together. We therefore decided to step out of the boundaries of the original assignment of ‘only’ 18 social units, and to incorporate the adjacent site. Municipalities argued for several years if housing or communal activity was to be preferred. By combining two sites of a ‘terrain vague’, in between ribbon development and allotments, we provide the opportunity to do both, while still increasing density, without losing individual living qualities. An internal pedestrian street is added, giving access to extra ground-bound units and a communal pocket park. By placing a set of rowhouses perpendicular on the site, interesting relations sustain different typologies. A gentle shift in the front facades marks the inner street entrance, and completes the shift from larger scale ribbon development towards small scale allotment. The design provides in a phased execution, were phase 1 secures the shift in oriëntation towards the qualities within, and offers the possibility for different furhter investments, be it communal or residential.
Border Spectrum: a perfect M.A.T.C.H Brooklyn, NY 2012-2013 Master paper, part 2
Manufacturing and Technology College High A mixed vocational school / manufacturing innovation centre produces not only new technologies, but also the future employees to operate and design them. By specializing education, a clear goal is set for entry-level students to become part of the sought-after skilled workforce. College-like courses are integrated in an extended six-year curriculum. Close contact with professionals and mentors is key, yet being able to seperate education and production is necessary to also create a favorable work environment. If the possibility for extra-curricular and community activity is also integrated, the ‘border spectrum’ shows within the building. A hybrid typology combines the advantages of a production hall and a school. The building connects both territories as it is spanned in between, taking advantage of the artificial topography. The slab, with regular education amenities, stands on top of the hall, while the hall’s roof is an extension of the public realm at grade above the Yard. A maximum overlap in educational and professional spaces results in a flexible system that uses different kinds of divisions and connections, anticipating future adaptations, catering evolving needs. The open plan spaces ‘in between’ introduce an adapted open learning envirnoment, aimed at cooperation and exchange.
Projections: “Breuckland, de Voorstad” Exhibition deSingel, Antwerpen 2014
Towards a shift in suburban policies. The housing quality of the booming population within an existing context is one of the major design challenges of the 21st century. Reflecting on production, logistics and wholesale within this city is also integrated in this process. And what about our metropolitan infrastructure, that just as well could house a neighbourhood park or a district’s water treatment plant? ‘Breuckland’ is an architectural experiment, loosely based on the New York suburb of Brooklyn. It aims to offer an alternative to the sectoral mindset in urban planning. The choice for the amalgamating suburb as an ideal field of activity is resolute. Not the historic core, nor rural living, but sub-urbanity offers the most common and everyday context in Flanders. Exhibition in collaboratin with GSAPP Columbia University, NY Institute of Technology, ASRO and the planning adminsitration of Brooklyn.
Existenz Leuven 2011-2012
Existenz is a cultural organisation, by architecture students. As vice-president of the 16th edition, I had the honour to collaboratively organise, design, build, and experience whatever we thought relevant to our interpretation of architecture. We built cafés, held debates, wrote Unité (an inter-university journal), organised workshops, threw some parties, invited artists,... As highlight, we were able to showcase this for the world to see during ‘Existenzweek’, as we transformed the old Stella Headquarters in Leuven’s very own DIY architecture Mecca. Here, and on other occasions, I designed and built following installations. The bar at the old Stella Headquarters (in collaboration with Reinaart Vandersloten) was the meeting point of Existenzweek. It was designed as one of 6 spaces reflecting on the theme “Re-”. The room was brought back to its original dimensions by removing the dividing wall. Its frame was the reused to cover up the old-fashioned bar with corrugated sheets, protecting a controllable light wall. On the other side, new paint was added to reinterpretate a wall to wall painting, completing the contrast between old and new. Café Bricolé was the first of three cultural cafés, (architecture, cinema, music). A temporary installation at our home base, the Arenberg Castle, introduced “RE-” as a theme and let people know what we do, by means of an exhibition in and around the installation. 800 EPAL-pallets framed the event, as we upcycled them to form free-flowing walls, stands, bridges, a podium and a bar. Light was used to accentuate the twisting and turning within the rigid castle walls. The pallets served for a week afterwards, and were then shipped off to be reused.
PORTFOLIO Jeroen Vandervelden