Nichtoffener Wettbewerb | 03/2018
Kulturzentrum KANAL - Centre Pompidou Brüssel
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The showroom by day, an inviting gesture serving as a public stage and offering a panoramic terrace
Gewinner
Architektur
Architektur
Architektur
Bauingenieurwesen
Akustikplanung
Kunst
sonstige Fachplanung
Lichtplanung
Visualisierung
Design
Erläuterungstext
Beurteilung durch das Preisgericht
The institutions – CIVA and the Museum – are installed in two new volumes at the heart of the workshops and extend beyond their roof. Here, the collections are presented on extensive levels, and the climate is controlled in accordance with strict conservation standards. Around these volumes, under the workshop roofs, transitional spaces are designed to extend the institutions’ premises and create a less restrictive climate: these can be used for a variety of purposes (CIVA reading rooms, transitory museum spaces, etc.) bringing some flexibility to the functioning of the institutions. A third volume has a rassembleur function, grouping together shared facilities such as an auditorium, educational spaces or offices.
These volumes are immersed in the public space. The idea of immersion came up several times during the discussions of the jury, and describes well the impression that the design creates. The public space is everywhere around the three new volumes, interacting with their forms and supporting them. On the ground floor, the public space provides access to the building via all its façades as well as being, of course, the setting for people’s movements and meetings and for logistics. On the first floor, the piano nobile offers a space of a different type – appropriable, indeterminate, presenting many and varied possible uses. These two floors are connected simply by keeping the existing workshop ramps.
These ramps are an excellent illustration of the architects’ approach to the third question: how do you build in the Citroën workshops? By ‘placing your trust in what’s already there’! Involving neither unconditional respect for the historical heritage nor indiscriminate demolition, the winning design is based on the existing building ‘as found’. Thus, the ramps, which were added more than twenty years after the construction of the workshops, are not seen as disruptive of the building’s original formal purity, but as an opportunity to emphasise the site’s spatial character. Conversely, the façades are restored and even extended, thus bringing together the design in a horizontal gesture. Finally, the volumes protrude above the roof in a calm, distant yet respectful manner."
©NOA / EM2N / SERGISON BATES
The showroom at night, an iconic landmark celebrating the urban space
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KANAL : une scène pour Bruxelles, the Quai des charbonnages is activated by the new uses
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The crossing of the interior street and the main nave, a ramp leads up to the piano nobile
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The auditorium opens up an becomes part of the public interior street
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The exhibition hall on the first level, the piano nobile opens up to the canal through large windows
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The showroom as a stage for the city
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View of the main nave with access to the exhibition spaces and galleries
©NOA / EM2N / SERGISON BATES
The exhibition hall of CIVA, the openings offer views across the building and celebrate the existing structure
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The exhibition hall of MMCA offering views over Brussels
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The cultural hub KANAL in its urban context
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Five big ideas – The showroom as symbol
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Five big ideas – Extending horizontality
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Five big ideas – A strong public figure
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Five big ideas – Three new volumes
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Five big ideas – Production
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Ground floor
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Piano nobile
©NOA / EM2N / SERGISON BATES
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