1MIRA architectuurontwerp 2017-2018 Brecht Verstraete, Jan Vermeulen
The site is a very specific location: at the corner of the Beursplein and facing the most important boulevard of Brussels, the Anspachlaan. Our plot forms the crosspoint of two different scales: on one hand we have the monumentality and larger urban scale of the vivid Beursplein and commercial Anspachlaan, while on the other hand a smaller scale of narrow streets and houses exists. Our design, consisting of two seperate volumes, held together by a similar appearance, acts as a transition point or mediation between these two conditions. Further to the north, between the neoclassical facades in the Anspachlaan, large modernistic towers rise up. This is not only an architecture, it also shows the history of the city and is a manifestation of the important sequens of style waves. Since we are living in our own era with our own living conditions and going-ons, it is time to add a visual expression of another wave to the existing urban condition. We are doing this not by copying previous styles, or the exact opposite like they did in Modern times, but by expressing a contemporary architecture that is still embedded in its context. The monumental Beurs is still the most central building of the square; this is the place where people meet or sit down and be a spectator of the urban life. Our design will serve as a background for this theatre, and at the same time become part of it. Helena Van Looveren Ruben Vanvlasselaer
analysis of the environment in our analysis of the surrounding buildings we quickly noticed the three part division which is present in a lot of the neoclassical buildings: a plinth, a middle and a crown. vertically, there is also a subdivision of bays. this explicit horizontality and verticality will also be introduced in our own design. the facades displayed here are all in the immediate surroundings of our site, they show a distinct relief. a bit further away though, we can also find modernist buildings that lack any form of relief. this game of having a sculptural facade, a really flat one, or something in between, will be used as a design tool for our own design, to give every facade its needed expression. to answer the question ‘what is a good height for our plinth?’ we also looked at the environment. by measuring the nearby plinths and associating it with the desired appearance, we got a feeling of what could be an appropriate height for our project.
analysis environment
reference - fondazione feltrinelli milano - herzog & de meuron while it appears to be a very contemporary architecture, fondazione feltrinelli is also a building that is strongly embedded in its surroundings on an urban and morphological level. furthermore the play with perspectives, views and framings of this building has inspired us countless of time throughout the design process.
two volumes come to exist at the cross-road of different scales. the scale of the lower volume resonates with the houses of the same building block. the higher volume on the other hand answers to a more monumental and grand urban scale that one would expect near the anspachlaan and beurpslein. our goal for the higher building was to form a ‘head’ on its end that is directed to the beursplein. its architecture can clearly be read as a means of staging the liveliness of the beursplein; a backdrop for the urban life. an interaction arises from inside to outside and from outside to inside.
two urban figures are important. first we have the symmetry line, originating at the beurs and perpendicular to the anspachlaan. it gives the square a certain heavyness. the symmetry also puts the buildings on both sides in a realtionship to eachother. secondly there is the hallenstraat that arrives perpendicular at our project and also gets an answer in the volumetry of our building. an opening arises, but it will also form a slit between our two buildings.
elevation beursplein 1.500
elevation anspachlaan 1.500
elevation paul devauxstraat 1.200
elevation kiekenmarkt 1.200
plan 1.500
details shading the sunshades do not only have a practical use, but contribute to the architectural expression of the facade. At the ‘head’, the facade that is pointed towards the beursplein, we have a quite flat facade that speaks with the modernist high rise further down the anspachlaan. here, the shading come out of the plane, to strengthen the public and open character of this facade. it is also a reference to the many canopies that could be found in the previous centuries along the anspachlaan.
details shading in the other facades there is already a lot of relief present due to the protruding horizontal floor slabs, and the big columns. to clearly articulate the difference of these facades, compared to the really flat facade at the beursplein, we designed sun shading that stays in the plane of the facade.
model 1.200
detail model 1.10 the columns have a square shape (40 cm x 40 cm), except for the ones in the paul devauxstraat, as documented on this model. an angle was ‘cut off’ of the basic column, following the line of the plot. this adaptation strengthens the reading of the facade in the paul devauxstraat, as a guideline towards the beurs. It leads the eye of the passer-by towards the central edifice at the square. in this mock-up it is also visible how we made a subdivision in the window frames at 2/3 height. the underlying reasoning for this subdivision is practical and architectural: it makes the manual opening of the windows easier, allows for lighter doors, ... but it also allows for a more human scale to be introduced at this monumental square. as an extension of this, we can see the same subdivision on the columns as well: the white concrete columns have the top one third sandblasted.