Beveren, Belgium
Thierry Lagrange from the Gent-based office of ALT architectuur designed this covered space for a youth movement located in a newly laid-out green area in Beveren, Belgium.
The covered space has no front or back. It is an octagon that has landed as an object in the open public space.
It can be fully opened and closed by a series of identical wooden doors. In this way, we respond to great flexibility and varying use.
The shape refers to scout tents and circus tents.
The center of the roof is an oculus, a central opening that catches the rain in bad weather. The oculus refers to old archetypal architectural forms.
The plan, in all its positions from open to closed, also refers to archetypal architectural forms.
The twisting of the octagon of the roof in relation to the octagon of the plan creates a kind of diamond shape.
The structure is a balancing act of elements subject to tension and pressure.
The symmetry also necessitates a symmetrical construction principle.
The roof surfaces provide shelter from wind and weather.
The plastic surfaces let the light in.
The gates open and close.
Every structural element and every surface has a meaning, a purpose.
There are no frills, everything is necessary.
Shelter, circus, oculus, scouting, gravity, octagon, transformation – these are just a few words to describe the project.
The whole thing was built by a group of volunteers with a passion for craft and detail.
The houses are designed to operate along with 300,000 square feet of commercial and office space, a dedicated community building that could house a school or library, and a 125-room hotel.
The group does not have an arena developer attached to its plan, but is working with Crossroads Consulting and has restricted its proposal to a single scenario that requires a complete renovation of the existing arena, with 16,000 seats.
With an ambition of making it “the world’s most livable community,” the master plan offers San Diego an all-inclusive ecosystem bustling with locals, shoppers, and tourists.
The plan would allow residents to live, work, socialize, and commute without the need of using a car.
A bridge is proposed across the freeway to reconnect the site to the river, enhancing its natural setting and improving the Bay-to-Bay link.
The main promenade is woven with several pedestrian paths and lined with a dynamic elevation of buildings.
Project: Shelter Melsele
Architects: ALT architectuur
Photographers: Johnny Umans
