Hasta La Ideas

Belgian studio Atelier Tom Vanhee has converted a former school building in the village of Woesten into a community centre and added a white gabled extension that appears to be sliding out of the original brick facade (+ slideshow).

Atelier Tom Vanhee was asked to transform the former school building into a community centre for the inhabitants of Woesten, and extended it to provide additional meeting rooms and storage space.

The architects retained a small recently built extension housing the toilets and built a new wooden structure around it, which has the same profile as the brick building it adjoins.

“The extension is a volume that is slid out of the building,” architect Tom Vanhee told Dezeen. “A volume with the same typology as the existing building, as a lot of houses, and as the blind facades of other buildings in the environment.”

Timber was chosen for the frame of the new addition because of its sustainable credentials, with vertical slatted wooden panels covering one facade continuing across the roof.

The gable ends of the extension are covered in white polycarbonate that accentuates the contrast between the new and old parts of the building.

“We chose to give the extension a different materialisation than the existing building to make it readable,” said Vanhee. “The polycarbonate gives a good expression of sliding out of the building.”

A larger staircase and entrance are incorporated into the new structure to improve the connection between the different spaces.

A skylight installed on the pitched roof of the brick building fills this space with natural light and internal windows allow it to reach the event space and meeting room on the ground floor.

Facilities in the earlier extension were updated to meet modern standards for insulation, fire safety and accessibility, and a new room in the enlarged attic now houses the building’s heating and ventilation services.

The slatted timber panelling from the facade recurs inside the extension, where it is used to clad the staircase. Original timber beams supporting the ceiling of the brick building have also been retained.

The original school hall has been enlarged by removing an existing stage, while new doors connect it to the landscaped outdoor spaces.

Paving extends along one side of the building to a small patio that is sheltered by the projecting facade of the extension.

Atelier Tom Vanhee, which recently changed its name from room&room, has also created a community centre in nearby Westvleteren by updating existing brick buildings using a contrasting modern brick.

Photography is by Filip Dujardin.

Here’s a project description from the architects:

Community Centre Woesten

The building is accessible by a central binding public domain, the playground of the former school (built in the 19th century). By opening some windows further down we reinforce the relationship between interior spaces and this square. By doing the same at the other site of the building, the back area is activated as a green semi-public space linked with the meeting hall. The closed functions, the storeroom, the technical areas and the sanitary facilities are grouped in a partially extended volume.

It is a rejuvenation of the building, where the recent sanitair extension gave rise to. This slider movement brings light in the heart of the meeting centre and gives more space at the central entrance hall. Internal windows overlook this hall and spread the light into the adjacent spaces. The other rooms have an open character, and can be used fully for the activities of the meeting centre: kitchen, meeting room, meeting hall, drawing Academy, concerts. The attic is elaborated for what is needed to use the building today. Further inside extension is still possible in the future.

Materials are chosen by the score at their circle of life analysis. The used wood is FSC-labelled: the structure of the extension (floors, walls and roof), the structure of the light interior walls, the windows, the façade coping and its structure, extra wooden bars for floors and for fixating, isolation. We used fibre boards for the interior walls, Celit and OSB for the extension.

The toilets are supplied with recycled rain water. The lights are energy efficient. The heating system recuperates the heat of the evacuating gases. The ventilation system recuperates the heat of the dirty removed air. We took care of better isolation : we changed all windows in high isolating glass, the roofs, floors and new walls are isolated. By the renovation, the building gets back a central role in the community It brings the public return the local authority was looking for.

Project: renovating a former school as a community centre
Location: Woestendorp 44, 8640 Woesten
Client: municipality Vleteren, province West-Vlaanderen
Concept team: atelier tom vanhee met ontwerpgroep
Study of stability: S.C.E.S., Brugge
Bruto surface: 629 m²
Concept: 2009 – 2010
Execution: 2011 – 2012

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Vanhee has a contrasting gabled extension appeared first on Dezeen.

A rectilinear belfry towers above the geometric white volume of this church congregation hall in Hungary by local firm SAGRA Architects (+ slideshow).

The Szolnok Reformed Church Congregation House is the first of two buildings by SAGRA Architects to be completed on the site in Szolnok, central Hungary, following a competition to design a new church complex.

The single-storey building contains a hall capable of accommodating around 30-40 people, an office and kitchen facilities, providing spaces that can be used for either worship or other community activities.

A wall extends out from the eastern side of the building, connecting the structure with the bell tower and creating a secluded terrace in front of the glazed southern facade.

This facade is also slightly recessed to allow part of the gabled roof to function as a canopy across the entrance.

“The basis of our concept was to create an open, clear and transparent space that still represents protection,” explained architect Gábor Sajtos.

Exterior walls are rendered white, while the roof is clad with black slate tiles and windows are framed by stained wood.

“The materials used reflect the spirituality of the building,” said Sajitos. “The white plastered walls and black slate roof suit its austerity and noble simplicity.”

Construction on the neighbouring church has not yet begun, due to problems securing funding. Once complete, it will be positioned on the northern boundary of the site, while remaining spaces between the two buildings will feature flower gardens.

Read on for more information from Sagra Architects:

Congregation House – SAGRA Architects

“… but love builds people up” – 1 Corinthians 8

The design process was preceded by an architectural competition. The SAGRA Architects’ design was rewarded as the winning proposal.

The congregation house is multifunctional: besides operating as congregation hall it houses catechism classes and programmes, fulfils social duties and charity tasks. As the building is also an eco-point, its programmes play part in spreading ecological thinking and teaching sustainable behaviour.

The basis of our concept during the design of Szolnok Reformed Church Congregation House was to create an open, clear and transparent space that still represents protection. Due to its architecture the building serves as a suitable place for worship and community occasions.

The building complex has two parts: the single-storey, cantilevered volume of the congregation house with gabled roof and the Bell tower. The bell tower is an organic part of the complex. The wooden terrace, inserted between the congregation house and the tower extends and opens up the internal community space through a fully openable glass wall. The cantilevered roof creates a transition zone between inside and outside. The south facade is shaded by the strongly cantilevered roof in summer, while it lets in the sharp angled sunbeams in winter.

The composition of the buildings is completed by the lavender garden, the floral garden and the lawn garden with seating and water surface.

The main access to the building is from south, from the street. Here the visitor is led through a pulled back, transition entrance area. The bell tower’s volume leads into the site. The walls, built on the southern and western site boundaries are the integral parts of the complex, symbols of protection, but open up and lead in at the same time. Placing the buildings on the site boundaries is also part of the local building regulations. Through these walls open up, the site becomes private but still open for passing through from all directions.

The congregation hall is extendable towards the wooden terrace. The terrace becomes the full, open-air part of the hall in summer.

The materials used reflect the spirituality of the building. The white plastered walls and black slate roof suit to its austerity and noble simplicity. The doors, windows and the south facade of the building are covered with stained wood, as well as the underside of the cantilevered roof.

As the building is also an eco-point, its programmes play part in spreading ecological thinking and teaching sustainable behaviour, so we considered this aspect during the design process.

The heating and hot water supply of this low energy, economical building is solved by an air to water heat pump. The heating is radiating surface heating (heated floor and ceiling), the cooling is provided by radiating surface cooling from the ceiling. The temperature of the spaces is controlled by thermostatic valves.

The south facade is shaded by the strongly cantilevered roof in summer, while it lets in the sharp angled sunbeams in winter.

Future

The church complex contains three main masses: the church, the congregation house with pastor’s office and the bell tower. The three volumes form an inseparable unity.

Until now the congregation house and the bell tower were built. The congregation is aiming to construct the church too in the future, but the financial background for it is still missing.

Architects: Sagra Architects
Architect in Charge: Sajtos Gábor
Design team: Sajtos Gábor, Grand Gabriella, Páll András, Virág Péter, Németh Regina
Year: 2012
Location: Szolnok, Hungary
Photographs: Szentirmai Tamás

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features a towering white belfry appeared first on Dezeen.

An angular steel canopy covered in plants wraps around this refurbished youth and community centre in the Sydney suburb of Waterloo by Australian architects Collins and Turner (+ slideshow).

Collins and Turner extended an amenities block for urban housing and health association Weave by adding a central courtyard and landscaped roof garden, which overlooks the skate park at Waterloo Oval.

The angular frame comprises structural poles and mesh made from galvanised steel, designed to support foliage.

“As the plants mature and grow across the canopy, the building will gradually merge with its park setting, becoming an abstract and sculptural green land-form that punctuates the park boundary and visually merges with the adjacent tree canopies,” said the architects.

The tubular metal structure hides a landscaped roof garden on top of the community centre building.

The garden looks down to a rectangular courtyard on the floor below, paved with timber from reclaimed city power poles. This allows daylight and ventilation to permeate through the building, which was designed specifically for low environmental impact.

“Internally, comfort conditions are passively controlled using natural cross ventilation, exposed thermal mass, and a building envelope shaded by the canopy structure and climbing plants,” said the architects.

Glass doors surrounding the courtyard open into the interior open-plan workspace, designed for 14 staff members. The space is subdivided to accommodate amenities such as two counselling rooms, a manager’s office and a kitchenette.

Retained brick walls from the previous structure are white-washed, and new concrete soffits and structural columns have been added.

On the exterior, the plant-covered protruding triangular sections provide a backdrop for the skate park.

Here’s a project description from Collins and Turner:

Waterloo Youth Family and Community Centre

The building has been transformed into a welcoming counselling facility and communal workspace for Weave.

The refurbished building has additionally become an extension of its landscape setting, combining architecture and horticulture in a unique way to create a new sculptural form that enlivens the southern area of the Waterloo Oval site.

Where possible, elements of the existing amenities block structure have been retained and re-used in the new plan, now focussed around a new central courtyard and crowned by a planted roof structure.

The landscaped roof garden is veiled by a dramatic steel canopy structure that has been designed to support a variety of native climbing and fruiting plants. The canopy is star shaped in plan – the points of the star mark the entry and newly constructed bay window areas in the four corners of the building.

The building is also partially submerged in its setting, as a result of subtle adjustments in the adjacent landscape levels, reducing its apparent size.

As the plants mature and grow across the canopy, the building will gradually merge with its park setting, becoming an abstract and sculptural green land-form that punctuates the park boundary and visually merges with the adjacent tree canopies.

Inspiration

The building design takes inspiration from a number of diverse sources. amongst them, the grass covered iron-age forts of Celtic Wales; the aviary at London Zoo designed by Cedric Price; and the work of John Krubsack an american naturalist who experimented with growing and grafting plants into shapes, creating the first chair that was grown rather than made.

The buildings unusual angular form evokes both the folded planes of Origami, and the triangulated surfaces of invisible stealth planes and boats.

Planning

The interior is arranged in a pin-wheel plan around the central courtyard, and includes a largely open and flexible plan with workspaces for 14 staff.

A reception area, two counselling rooms, a chill out room, managers office, kitchenette, and a small facility for a visiting general practitioner complete the program. Integrated joinery elements and staff amenities subdivide the space and functions.

Materials

Robust galvanised steel is utilised throughout the exterior form in structural sections, grillages, and meshes – such elements and finishes are familiar in the urban landscape of the inner city, seen regularly as railings, crash barriers, shutters and gratings.

Internally, materials are paired back and simply detailed. The retained existing brick walls are white- washed, and contrasted against off form concrete expressed in soffits and new structural columns, and solid timber in floors and handcrafted joinery. Additional colour is provided by furnishings, and the variety of rooftop and courtyard plants which are visible from the majority of spaces.

The resulting interior is clean-lined, light filled and neutral, and will form a simple but functional backdrop to the colour provided by the art and day to day activities of the young people who work-in and visit the Weave facility.

Environment

The building is designed to be robust, low maintenance and long lasting, and will have a low environmental impact, due to minimal use of natural resources and passive means of comfort conditioning. The building is a refurbishment of an existing facility, and has been planned to maintain where possible the existing wall and slab structures.

Internally, comfort conditions are passively controlled using natural cross ventilation, exposed thermal mass, and a building envelope shaded by the canopy structure and climbing plants. The new courtyard brings daylight and fresh air into the depths of the building, minimising reliance on artificial lighting and negating the need for air conditioning. Exposed thermal mass in the concrete super structure enables free cooling. Ceiling fans amplify air movement on still days.

The building also incorporates recycled materials including a wooden block courtyard floor utilising timber from reclaimed city power poles; concrete and pavers that utilise a high percentage of recycled material and fly ash for cement and aggregate replacement; and reclaimed roofing slate crushed as mulch for planting beds. LED lighting is used extensively in the building.

Rainwater is drawn from roof and paved areas and collected in an underground tank adjacent to the structure for use in the irrigation of the plants. The steel canopy structure has been designed as an interlocking but self-supported element, allowing the future demounting and relocation of the structure.

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community centre by Collins and Turner appeared first on Dezeen.

Dutch studio Marc Koehler Architects has extended a former primary school in rural Belgium to create a community centre with a folded roof (+ slideshow).

Marc Koehler Architects designed the building for the Flemish government in the small village of Loker. It is one of eight government-funded projects across the province of West Flanders, which will see existing community facilities upgraded as part of a bid to attract new residents.

A steel framework creates the faceted roof of the new structure, which is clad externally with corrugated fibre-cement panels and lined internally with timber.

The walls of the building are glazed and surround a large hall that can be used for different community events, from performances and exhibitions to parties and sporting activities.

Curtains enable the space to be subdivided, allowing different activities to take place simultaneously.

A canteen, meeting rooms, bathrooms and storage space are located within the old school building.

“By re-using the existing 1960s building we create a layered reading of the history of the place,” the architects said. “Our task was creating an innovative, multifunctional building in a sensitive, historical environment.”

The corrugated roof material is intended to match the rooftops of nearby barns, while the angled forms were designed to be reminiscent of the folds of the surrounding landscape.

The roof also cantilevers beyond the glazed facade, helping to shade the building from direct sunlight.

Marc Koehler founded his architecture studio in 2005. Past projects include a corner house in the Nieuw Leyden district of Amsterdam, completed in collaboration with architect Sophie Valla.

Here’s a project description from the architects:

Community Home

A compact and ecological community home

The building is located in Loker, a small village (600 inhabitants) in the east of Flanders. The project is the result of our winning entry for the Open Call competition, organised by the Flemish government. Our project is the first of eight projects to be completed in the eight sub-districts of the municipality of Heuvelland. As such it can be seen as an impulse for social change, of Flemish villages modernising and upgrading their facilities to attract a potential suburban dweller, returning to the rural landscape. So our task was creating an innovative, multifunctional building in a sensitive historic environment.

Urban integration

The building consists of a reused part of the existing structure of a primary school build in the 60’s, covered by a large folding roof with a glazed façade. The changing shade, created by the various angles of the roof parts reminds of the surrounding patch-work landscape, while the corrugated roofing-material is similar to that used in neighbouring barns.

The glazed façade provides a generous view over the surroundings, with an emphasis on the Sint-Petrus church, and the sloping landscape of the Kemmelberg. With reusing the existing 60’s building, we create a layered reading of the history of that place.

Diversity under one roof

The reused school-building houses the more intimate spaces, like the canteen, storage, sanitary spaces and meeting rooms. The polyvalent, open space can be used for a large variety of activities, like performances, gatherings, exhibitions, sports or parties. The smaller rooms can be opened up towards the polyvalent space, extending their potential, but the large space can also be divided by curtains so that several programs can coexist simultaneously.

Sustainable use

The competition prescribed the demolition of the whole existing building, but proposed to preserve the asbestos-free part of the structure, works out in our favour. We created a financial advantage not having to construct new specific spaces, allowing for the polyvalent space to become larger then requested.

A natural climate compartmentalisation of use and energy management is automatically created by the two main components of the building. The cantilevering roof acts as passive sun shading, blocking direct sunlight from entering the building in the summer, but allowing sunlight to heat the building in the winter. Another effort is made with the selection of building materials. Carbon neutral fibre cement panels are used for roofing, but also for interior cladding.

Location: Dikkebusstraat 131, 8950 Heuvelland (Loker)
Owner: Municipallity of Heuvelland
Occupant: Community of Loker
Architects: Marc Koehler Architects
Collaborating Architects: Import Export Architecture
Project team: Marc Koehler, Rafaeli Aliende, Martijn de Geus, Carlos Moreira, Miriam Tocino, Tieme Zwartbol
Construction time: 2011-2012

Structural Planning: LIME Studiebureau Viaene
Heating: Studiebureau Viaene
Lighting: Studiebureau Viaene
Electrical Installations: Studiebureau Viaene
Type of construction: steel structure
Materials: In situ concrete floors / steel structure/ wooden ceiling/ aluminium glazing/ fibre cement plates (roof and interior walls)/
Gross area: 550 m2
Gross volume: 2600 m3

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Marc Koehler Architects appeared first on Dezeen.

A labyrinth of brick walls, arches and courtyards are protected from flooding behind a man-made embankment at this open-air community centre in rural Bangladesh (+ slideshow).

Designed by Bangladeshi architect and URBANA founder Kashef Mahboob Chowdhury, the complex functions as the centre for a charitable organisation. It offers training programmes for the poorest individuals in Gaibandha, a town where most of the community are employed in agriculture.

The Friendship Centre is built on low-lying land surrounded by fields. Despite the threat of flooding, the cost of raising the building above the flood plain was too great so instead the designers created their own defence by building up the earth surrounding the site.

Each building within the complex is constructed from a uniform brickwork, creating a maze of pavilion-like structures. Each block has the same height and every rooftop is covered with grass.

“In the extreme limitation of means was a search for the luxury of light and shadows, of the economy and generosity of small spaces and of the joy of movement and discovery in the bare and the essential,” said Chowdhury.

The architect also compares the project to some of the ancient Buddhist monasteries constructed elsewhere in the region. “Simplicity is the intent, monastic is the feel,” he added.

Rooms are divided into two zones to separate reception and training rooms from dormitories and other more private quarters. There’s also a library, a conference room, a prayer space and a small shop.

Large openings in the walls bring natural light and ventilation through the buildings, while a sequence of small courtyards and pools allow cool air to circulate.

Excessive rainwater is collected in some of these pools and pumped into a nearby pond, while a complex network of septic tanks and wells prevents sewage mixing with flood water.

Other projects designed to combat possible flooding include a floating house in New Orleans and a whole neighbourhood in Copenhagen.

Here’s more text from the design team:

Friendship Centre

The Friendship Centre near the district town of Gaibandha, Bangladesh, is for an NGO which works with some of the poorest in the country and who live mainly in riverine islands (chars) with very limited access and opportunities. Friendship uses the facility for its own training programs and will also rent out for meetings, training, conferences etc. as income generation.

The low-lying land, which is located in rural Gaibandha where agriculture is predominant, is under threat of flooding if the embankment encircling the town and peripheries break.

An extensive program with a very limited fund meant that raising the structures above flood level (a height of eight feet) was not an option: nearly the entire available fund would be lost below grade. Being in an earthquake zone and the low bearing capacity of the silty soil added further complications. The third and final design relies on a surrounding embankment for flood protection while building directly on existing soil, in load-bearing masonry. Rainwater and surface run-off are collected in internal pools and the excess is pumped to an excavated pond, also to be used for fishery. The design relies on natural ventilation and cooling, being facilitated by courtyards and pools and the earth covering on roofs. An extensive network of septic tanks and soak wells ensure the sewage does not mix with flood water.

The ‘Ka’ Block contains the reception pavilion, offices, library, training/conference rooms and pavilions, a prayer space and a small ‘cha-shop’. The ‘Kha’ Block, connected by three archways, is for more private functions and houses the dormitories, the dining pavilion and staff and family quarters. The laundry and drying shed is located on the other side of the pond. There is no air-conditioning and the entire lighting is through LED and energy efficient lamps.

As in construction, so in conception – the complex of the centre rise and exist as echo of ruins, alive with the memory of the remains of Mahasthan (3rd century BC), some sixty kilometres away. Constructed and finished primarily of one material – local hand-made bricks – the spaces arc woven out of pavilions, courtyards, pools and greens; corridors and shadows. Simplicity is the intent, monastic is the feel.

The centre serves and brings together some of the poorest of poor in the country and, by extension, in the world, yet in the extreme limitation of means was a search for the luxury of light and shadows of the economy and generosity of small spaces; of the joy of movement and discovery in the bare and the essential.

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Chowdhury/URBANA appeared first on Dezeen.