The key
issue here is how to insert new architecture in a loaded historical
surrounding. Bruges is one of these cities that tries to keep its centre
intact, with the risk of banning too much of today’s city life. The city
maintains a set of rules on scale, materials, roof inclinations… that are
supposed to keep existing urban qualities intact. Among others, concrete
façades and big glass surfaces are forbidden.
Two
buildings are to be added to an old school campus, which will house a
postgraduate law and economics school. The campus consists of a conglomerate of
historical buildings organized around a sequence of enclosed courts. The campus
is accessed from three different streets. The two new volumes replace less
valuable old buildings. They are set freestanding from the old buildings while
redefining the courts; their ground floor surface is partially open and
continuous with the courts. N1 consists of classrooms and a central reception
desk, N2 accommodates two lecture rooms, some offices and a foyer on ground
floor. One side of the building covers an outside entrance space to the campus
that is accessed from an existing gate on the main street.
A regular
grid of prefabricated concrete elements forms both the supporting structure and
a filter for light. The whitish, concrete outer surface is polished, which
makes the material more ‘noble’ and acceptable for the city; inclined surfaces
reflect the sunlight indirectly into the rooms. Behind the concrete structure is
a full glass façade composed out of translucent glass elements and transparent
windows. The grid gives both a depth and a texture to the façade. On the court
level the concrete elements continue as a screen or as a fence.