City Made - TRANS architectuur en Stedenbouw

TRANS architectuur l stedenbouw

nai010 publishers

Resumptions of urban production

Introduction 6 Nina Rappaport The workshop and the mask 33 Job Floris

RYHOVE GHENT Extension and refurbishment of a sheltered workshop

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Interview 67 Peter Leyman—C.E.O. Ryhove

BALENMAGAZIJN GHENT Conversion of a warehouse into a shared facility on an urban factory site

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On Policy 95 A place for social economy in the city

VAN HOOREBEKE TIMBER GHENT 99 Reception building for a timber distribution company and sawmill

Interview 123 Pierre-Emmanuel van Hoorebeke—C.E.O. van Hoorebeke Timber Structural Compositions 124 Filip Van de Voorde City Made 126 Coalitions for industry in the city Mark Brearley

Table of Content

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INTRODUCTION

Nina Rappaport Building in the Productive City

In today’s new economy the factory typology offers architects a challenging design opportunity. Once again capturing the architect’s imagination, the factory serves as a place of inspiration, especially in cities where smaller, cleaner, lighter, and more compact manufacturing and artisanal production are returning and thriving. The Modernist ideology of architects such as Le Corbusier, Albert Kahn, Erich Mendelsohn, and Walter Gropius, who gravitated to the vernacular to justify their ideas and elevating the materials of quotidian production such as raw concrete, steel, and glass as a new aesthetic can be renewed with contemporary materials and technologies. Engineers often designed innovative structures for what could be seen as the endless factory in the postwar boom—factory essentials such as large spans, robust structural bays, vertical physical operations, and tall floor-to-floor heights enhanced fluid and flexible production processes. In the 1960s, high-tech British architects continued this tradition as they embraced steel and the functional underbellies of factory infrastructure as a design element while numerous Italian architects interested in factory production systems used carefully calibrated repetitive parts to produce the whole. The factory’s machinic aesthetic offered design freedom while being performative and rational.

With manufacturing sequestered to suburban industrial parks, the factory continues to be out of public view, while simultaneously offering for architects a creative freedom as seen in the recent projects of Barkow Leibinger, Zaha Hadid, and Gunter Henn, among others. The renovation and adaptation of existing factories such as Henry Ford’s River Rouge plant in Detroit, Industry City in Brooklyn, and the American Can Factory in San Francisco are the more urban norm and many of them rose as “vertical urban factories.” New variations on urban factories are being initiated so that contemporary designers can embrace manufacturing by moving beyond the Modernists’ obsession with logistics and efficiency even in an age of increasing and inevitable automation, and instead design for interaction.

Meaningful workspaces that are ergonomic, include plenty of light and air, and provide workers with comfort and healthy environments can be designed for human potentiality.

The essential investigation becomes how to urban design factories, or redesign them, humanistically and sustainably, for future dense cities. TRANS Architecture’s industrial projects address these challenging issues as they work with manufacturing clients with complex needs. In the project conflicts arise for a new urban remix—delivery trucks adjacent to residential living; new forms and materials within or adapted to existing buildings; and interior flow reorganized for new working habits. All the more reason to focus in this book [OKAY?] on their projects that knit together urban manufacturing’s physical and social culture while insisting on an embedded continuity wherein production contributes to a new urban synergy.

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ESSAY

ENG.

Job Floris The workshop and the mask

In the sixties, the German married couple Bernd and Hilla Becher conducted a photographic study depiciting industial buildings, not only meticulously documenting them, but also showcasing their majestic beauty. They portrayed the buildings’ splendour, shrouded in mystery, yet also as objects with sculptural particularities and as if they were architecture too. In the case of the latter, we can speak of as found architecture, or of structures that have been realised without any architectural ambition but can still be of interest due to their architectonic or sculptural appearance. The Bechers’ greatest merit is that they succeeded in drawing our attention to these everyday, banal structures. Hence, we can contemplate, reinterpret and value them. Valuing ordinary workplaces provides the basis of TRANS’s architectural approach, as shown in this publication. That is, however, where the parellel stops: TRANS explicitly strives to celebrate architecture, albeit rationally and with restraint. This means no excessive reception buildings with an excess of intentions and gestures, followed up by a paltry, standardised hallway completely lacking in ambition. TRANS aspires to create familiar buildings we understand while pursuing a distinct and well-defined strategy.

Workplaces favour very pragmatic architectural responses privileging functionality above all else. Pragmatic, because intrinsically connected to economy and sustainability.

Ornamentation and exterior are superfluous. Beauty altogether is secondary to functional considerations. These buildings are oftentimes very generic, despite just being for very specific uses, but they always remain in strong demand. Hence, architecture might be absent in its entirety.

At other times, it is present in in the construction and in space planning. Large, free spans and the rhythm of the column structure, letting in daylight and robust materiality are a few examples of this. Irrefutably, logistics and efficiency will always predominate­—that is simply how we build workplaces and industrial estates. Architectural considerations usually don’t play a part here, and are usually left for the exterior. The Bechers therefore ‘discovered’ ‘lost beauties’.

The onerous burden of creating an architectural object with a minimum of resources falls on the architect. TRANS took up this challenge with verve as it corresponds to the iron logic of workplace environments.

‘Basic Forms’ by Bernd Becher & Hilla Becher.

Cover of the publication by Schirmer / Mosel 2014.

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PLAN OF GHENT

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1. Ryhove 2. Balenmagazijn 3. Van Hoorebeke

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RYHOVE

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RYHOVE

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PROJECT

BALENMAGAZIJN Conversion of a former cotton warehouse into a shared facility with polyvalent rooms, social restaurant and employment centre.

The city of Ghent started redeveloping the UCO site in 2011. This eleven-hectare area was home to a major textile factory for decades—Balenmagazijn is Dutch for bale warehouse. The ambitious urban project will breathe new life into the factory buildings by providing space for social economy and urban services, such as a training and employment centre.

Finding a new use for this former cotton storeroom is the first step in redeveloping the UCO site.

Companies established on the site will share common facilities, centralised in the old warehouse. The original warehouse is essentially a single-storey high room with a prefabricated concrete structure and a carefully executed brick envelope. Three gates give access to the building.

By spreading the new programme over four floors, only half the surface of the shed is taken up. The redesigned building therefore consists of two halves that can be used together or separately. The new building volume will house the kitchen, meeting rooms, employment centre and technical rooms, whereas the multi-purpose room with restaurant benefits from the generous height and depth of the original warehouse.

The structural simplicity of the warehouse is vulnerable. The programme is adapted in such a way that the original construction doesn’t need to be modified. This strategy can be maintained throughout the project. Ultimately, the adaptations to the existing building can be reduced to two radical interventions. The southern façade will be opened up over its entire length, looking out onto a park that will be constructed from north to south on the UCO site. In the northern façade three doors, necessary for the production process of the industrial kitchen, are masked with a brick and stone cladding.

The building, with its silent, closed façades, existed on the fringes of an extensive factory terrain.

It must now take on a pioneering role as a link in the neighbourhood. On the eastern and western sides, two oversized wooden gates welcome local residents and company employees. The new volume on top of the warehouse’s cornice is clad in reflective metal with reference to the material used to make industrial kitchens, such as the one inside the building. It denotes the future of the Balenmagazijn and the UCO site within the city.

BALENMAGAZIJN

Determined to deal with the damage dealt by the First World War, a few weaving mills based in Ghent decided to merge into the Union Cotonnière (cotton union), abbreviated to UCO. In its glory days, UCO provided a job to 10,000 employees working in 20 different plants.

In 1947-1948, the textile company inaugurated a new spinning and weaving mill. Expectations were high: 40 tonnes of cloth, 25 tonnes of rope and 10 tonnes of textile were to be produced on a weekly basis.

The surface area necessary for this endeavour—35,000 square metres—had to be created without adding storeys and while keeping the number of columns and intermediate supports to a minimum. For the first time, the construction of a factory building employed a combination of prefabricated elements and prestressed concrete. The technique necessary for prestressing concrete was being perfected at that time by professor Gustave Magnel, in Ghent.

The Balenmagazijn—cotton warehouse— was set up adjacent to the factory halls.

The decline of the textile industry led to the liquidation of the company in 2008 and after the effective closure of the factory in 2009, the city of Ghent decided to purchase the site and to start an urban renewal project. The UCO site lends itself very well to the development of a cluster of social economy enterprises. The training and employment centre, the service company of the city of Ghent and an office of the Flemish social services (OCMW) will also be located there. In 2011, the project was launched with a competition for the redesign of the Balenmagazijn.

The Emile-Jean Braun cotton mill, named after the founder of the former Union Cottonière

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WHO IS WHO

TRANS “TRANS architecture |urbanism designs non-intrusive spaces, allowing life to flourish within them. Every now and then, the spaces assume a pivotal role to clarify what we likely already knew, only to then fade back into unobtrusiveness.”

Based in Ghent and established in 2010, TRANS revolves around an international team composed of highly talented architects, architectural engineers and urbanists working on projects set in and involving urban environments.

In a short space of time, the architectural form was appointed laureate of various design competitions. Examples include the Sint-Laureins Administrative Centre and the Deinze Theatre. TRANS was awarded the first prize for the Hartwijk Eeklo and Haspershoven Pelt master plans. Commissioned by the Flemish Government Architect, it was appointed to the pilot project Housing Turnhout.

For Interieur Kortrijk ’16, the firm created a pop-up restaurant after winning an international competition.

Thanks to commissions by Ryhove, van Hoorebeke Timber and sogent, TRANS has acquired considerable experience of and affinity with urban productive economy. It was recently declared winner of a design competition for a residential tower in Brussels, on the Sainctelette Square.

This marked an increase in the scale of TRANS’s assignments. The firm’s work is being published nationally and internationally, and its members are often invited to participate in symposia and exhibitions or asked to give lectures.

Additionally, the academic assignments of Bram Aerts and Carolien Pasmans foster research and internal innovation of the firm’s design practice.

BRAM AERTS

Architectural engineer Bram Aerts is founder of TRANS architecture | urbanism.

He graduated from KU Leuven in 2002 worked for the Brussels-based BOB 361 Architecten bureau until 2008. He has been teaching

construction at KU Leuven Faculty of Architecture at the Sint-Lucas campus in Ghent, where he also organises didactic workshops for the international Master of Architecture, since 2009. He has also worked as assistant professor at Universiteit Antwerpen (2011-2012) and at RAVB (Rotterdamse Academie van Bouwkunst—Rotterdam Academy of Architecture) in 2016. In association with Nina Rappaport (Yale), he has organised KU Leuven Summer Schools in New York and Ghent.

CAROLIEN PASMANS

After completing her studies at UGent in 2002, architectural engineer, urbanist, and founder of TRANS, Carolien Pasmans topped off her curriculum with a master’s degree in urbanism at UAntwerpen (2006). During this time (2003-2007), she was an apprentice at Buro voor Architectuur. Since 2013, Carolien has been assistant professor at UAntwerpen Faculty of Design Sciences. She also was assistant professor at KU Leuven Faculty of Architecture at the Sint-Lucas campus in Ghent (2014).

NINA RAPPAPORT

Nina Rappaport is an architectural critic, curator, and educator. She focuses on the intersection of industry and architecture and the role of the factory worker. She directs Vertical Urban Factory, a think tank, which includes a book released with Actar of the same name, a traveling exhibition, and consultancy.

In 2018 she co-curated the exhibition, The Factory for Urban Living in Seoul. In 2017 she completed the project A Worker’s Lunchbox, of her films of interviews with factory workers in Philadelphia.

For over eighteen years, she has been publications director at the Yale School of Architecture, for which she edits the biannual magazine Constructs, exhibition catalogues, and the studio book series.

She is co-editor of the book “Ezra Stoller: Photographer”, author of the book “Support and Resist: Structural Engineers and Design Innovation” and co-author of

“Long Island City: Connecting the Arts with the Design Trust for Public Space”.

She has taught industrial urbanism and history of architecture and has co-taught architecture studios at KU Leuven Summer Schools, Syracuse New York City, Kean University, Parsons School of Design, and Yale School of Architecture. She has written numerous essays for international journals and magazines and she lectures widely.

JOB FLORIS

Job Floris is architect and co-founder of Monadnock. He obtained his master’s degree in architecture from the RAVB in 2004, following his studies in architectural design at the Academie voor Kunst en Vormgeving (Academy of Art and Design) St. Joost in Breda.

His first experience of working for an architectural firm during his internship was at Christian Kiekens & Poulissen & Partners Architects. In 2000, Job returned to practice in the Netherlands, working as project architect at Rapp+Rapp until 2006. Job publishes in various architecture magazines and has been editor of OASE Journal for Architecture (20082018). He has held various visiting lectureships in the Netherlands and abroad (KU Leuven, Sint-Lucas campus Ghent; KIT Karlsruhe; EPFL Lausanne), starting from 2006. Between 2010 and 2018, Job coordinated the master’s degree course in Architecture at the RAVB.

of London manufacturing since 1947. Mark’s involvement in Kaymet is an indirect consequence of his cataloguing of over 2200 London manufacturing business.

PETER LEYMAN

Until the end of April 2007, Peter Leyman was managing director at Volvo Cars Ghent, a company then employing 5,000 people. He resigned from his position to make a career in politics. He was also provincial chairman of Flemish employers’ organisations such as Voka and Agoria.

On February 1, 2008, he became managing director of the Vergokan Group. At the end of September 2009, he succeeded Philippe Muyters as Voka’s managing director.

In 2011, he announced that he was resigning from this position in order to return to normal business circles. From October 1, 2012 onwards, Peter Leyman has been general manager of sheltered workshop Ryhove. Based in Ghent, the non-profit organization employs more than 400 people with work-limiting disabilities in Ghent and in Merelbeke.

PIERRE-EMMANUEL VAN HOOREBEKE Pierre-Emmanuel van Hoorebeke has been working for van Hoorebeke Timber, where he has been managing director since 1989. He still holds this position.

MARK BREARLY

Mark Brearly founded the research group Cass Cities and teaches at The Cass in Aldgate, an architecture and design school associated with London Metropolitan University.

He has worked for the Mayor of London since 2001, in collaboration with Richard Rogers and the Architecture and Urbanism unit. Subsequently, he worked with Design for London, leading their team for 5 years, until 2013.Mark has vast experience on urban change on a small scale and yet also on larger scale topics such as wild areas and public space, high streets and urban economy and manufacturing. He is proprietor of Kaymet, a modest stalwart

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CREDITS Texts: Bram Aerts, Nina Rappaport, Job Floris, Mark Brearley, Filip Van de Voorde Copy editing: Michiel Van de Gucht Translation: Michiel Van de Gucht Design: Ward Heirwegh Lithography and Printing: Die Keure Paper: magno star 115 gr + munken polar 120 gr Publisher: NAI 010 Illustration credits: TRANS architectuur | stedenbouw (pages 57, 62, 90, 100, 106, 113, 114, 116, 120), Stijn Bollaert (cover, pages 44, 50, 54, 55, 58, 60, 64), Hannelore Veelaert (pages 80, 84, 85, 88, 92, 128), Johnny Umans (pages 70, 86), Bas Bogaerts (pages 7-32, 76, 83), Annelies Vanstockstraeten (page 40), Droon (pages 66, 96)

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ISBN 978-94-6208-458-2 NUR 648 BISAC ARC000000 BISAC 2 ARC011000 City Made is also available as: City Made e-book (PDF) ISBN 978-94-6208-472-8

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Publisher: nai010, Particularly Marcel Witvoet Graphic design: Particularly Ward Heirwegh We explicitly want to thank our co-workers actual co-workers former co-workers Particularly Paulien Herbots for her dedication to the creation of this book Our family — mothers, fathers, brothers and sister For their blind faith in what we do, our friends in life for their continuous support, our clients for the confidence, our contractors for their realizations, our friends in architecture for their involvement, inspiring conversations and enthralling collaboration Annelies Augustijns, Hans Barbier, Alexander Bartscher, Jorn Bihain, Carl Bourgeois, Dag Boutsen, Mark Brearley, Bert Cosemans, Johan Cordonnier, Sophie Dars, Peter Debruyn, Jan De Cauwer, Joachim Declerck, Thierry Decuypere, Elodie Degavre, Wessel de Jonge, Martine de Maeseneer, Tom de Moor, Nanne de Ru, Lisa De Visscher, Dieter De Vos, Roeland Dudal, Luc Eeckhout, Jantje Engels, Job Floris, Erik Geens, Rein Geens, Yuri Gerrits, Uri Gilad, Marleen Goethals, Marius Grootveld, Hans Janssen, Louis Janssen, Toon Kalhöfer, Christian Kieckens, David Kohn, Louis Lateur, Dieter Leyssen, Barbara Lippens, Paul Mees, Iwein Meeskens, Wim Meyns, Dimitri Minten, Gwenny Moris Paul Mouchet, Patrick Moyersoen, Bart Moysen, Sandor Naus, Sander Nelissen, André Nullens Nathan Ooms, Jan Opdekamp Matteo Paracchini, Nina Rappaport, Wim Rasschaert, Johannes Robbrecht, Paul Robbrecht, Maximiliaan Royakkers Kris Scheerlinck, Charlotte Schmidt, Julian Schubert, Alain Simon, Gunther Slagmeulder, Leonard Streich, Martino Tattara, Roel Ten Bras, Julien Trégarot, Erik Van Daele, Paul Vandepoel, Miet Vanderbeke, Jeroen Vander Beken Hans van der Heijden, Filip Van de Voorde,

Kurt Van Leirsberghe, Hera Van Sande, Kristiaan Van Weert, Tim Vekemans, Ward Verbakel, David Verhoestraete, Jan Vermeulen, Paul Vermeulen, Caroline Voet, Maaike Westinga Jan-Peter Wingender Photography: André Nullens Hannelore Veelaert Filip Dujardin Stijn Bollaert Bas Bogaerts Insurance: Karl Vynck Zumtobel: Bruno Branswyck Jacques Brouhier Web: www.transarchitectuur stedenbouw.be Instagram: @transarchitectuurstedenbouw

Three recently built factory facilities, designed by Ghent based architects TRANS architectuur | stedenbouw, bring manufacturing back to the city.

Nina Rappaport, known for her reference work Vertical Urban Factory, Job Floris and Mark Brearley place the projects in an international context.

Interviews with policy makers and the factory management give a behind the scene insight in the coproduction of these pioneering projects.

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