Carlos Arroyo Architects/OostCampus
Have recently been completed to OostCampus jobs Carlos Arroyo Architects in Oostkamp, Belgium. OostCampus is the home civil service, social and administrative territory in the heart of the countryside around Bruges, a beautiful landscape outlined by rows of trees and canals and dotted with residential castles constructed during centuries by wealthy merchants from nearby Belgian cities, and enriched with discreet industrial parks with high-tech companies like Siemens, TycoDigital Entropy, or EADS.
In 1977 four municipalities were grouped, Hertsberge Oostkamp, Ruddervoorde and Waardamme,, as a result of national legislation that has eliminated more than 300 municipalities throughout Belgium. Were grouped the services, but the facilities were scattered in various municipal buildings.
In 2006, the municipality acquired 4 hectares of land with structures of Coca-Cola made in 1992, which had become obsolete. Located a 5-minute walk from the Centre of Oostkamp, 10 minutes by bike from other nuclei, and near the exit of the motorway E-40, the terrain offered the possibility of grouping the municipal services, optimising synergies and building a common image.
In 2008 the Flemish Government Architecture Agency (Vlaams Bouwmeester) is holding an international competition of ideas to construct OostCampus, with a slogan that paraphrases Magritte: "Ceci n'est pas ... een Administratief centrum".
The winning design, the study led by Carlos Arroyo, has opted for a radical great reuse existing industrial building, including foundations, floors, support structures, the outer skin, insulation, waterproofing and all services and equipment stranded: power plant, heating plant, water hoses, fire hoses, drains, and even parking, fence and access.
The reuse of existing buildings is a fundamental criterion of sustainability. The "embodied energy" (energy used for the production of something), is often rejected or simply ignored. If we scrap them an existing structure and build a new one, we will use more energy and resources than the most efficient buildings is able to save his life.
To transform the vast industrial hall – with minimal footprint but maximum spatial result – Arroyo designs to sheltered interior public space, wrapped in a "luminous landscape of white clouds. Thin shells of GRG (gypsum and fibers) span the large space like huge soap bubbles. They are only 7 mm thick.
Within this landscape, a set of modular clusters provides the administrative services and spaces, designed to facilitate the relationship between citizens and administration. Citizen participation in the process is one of the key issues. Also transparency: the chamber hall is in full sight in the middle of public space, the information is accessible, you can even you visualize the municipal website ... and physically enter it and talk to the person who is behind!
The materials are simple and inexpensive, but are selected and used in such a way that we want to go and touch them. Some elements are finished with a felt made from recycled bottles (PET); simple boards are CNC carved to become sophisticated 3D damascene; the floor is the existing industrial poly-concrete warehouse, with its lines of storage, on which the new signage is superimposed. The acoustics are carefully worked out, and so is the smell!
The materials are simple and inexpensive, but they are selected and used in such a way that we want them to touch. Some elements are finished with a felt made from recycled bottles (PET), the floor is that the existing industrial warehouse in poly-concrete, with its storage line, on which is superimposed the new signage, the carefully prepared sound.
The thermal comfort is achieved with minimal effort, thanks to the technique of "thermal" onion "that enhances second zones, access levels, and taking advantage of the thermal inertia of the insole.
The price per square metre of the building is a third of the average for comparable buildings.
Project: Carlos Arroyo Architects
Photography: Miguel de Guzmán
Via: Contemporist
849 days ago
944 days ago
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