AHI Architectural Heritage Intervention

“Contributing to enhancing our heritage, as the way forward for 21 st Century architecture is our raison d’être; to emphasize a diverse, rich vision that necessarily complements the intervention is our mission, and achieving it with reflexive and purposeful efforts is the challenge”.

This project, founded in, and directed since, 2011 by Ramon Calonge, Oriol Cusidó, Marc Manzano and Jordi Portal, architects and members of the Group of Architects for the Defence and Intervention in Architectural Heritage (AADIPA), has, through the years become a platform that includes four actions that are both independent and transversal.
 
The European Award, a biennial event that brings together and showcases the multiple approaches of intervention in Europe.

The International Biennial, a framework that serves to compare and gain closer insight of quality interventions in architectural heritage in non-European countries.

The digital Archive, a live and open window that provides a panoramic view of interventions in the history of our surroundings.

The Forum, a meeting place where you can participate in on-going debates about the main preoccupations and lines of thought about interventions in architectural heritage in Europe.

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Buda Art Centre

Buda Art Centre

The last remaining textile factory on Buda Island, an area destined to become the cultural heart of the city, has been transformed into multifunctional spaces. The large volume, situated in the middle of a city block, has been adapted through two main interventions: The first hollow out a large void in the center of the building, bringing daylight deep into the vast floor plan. This pentagonal void houses a public staircase that gives access to various spaces on 4 levels. The biggest part of the structure is reused. Besides saving resources, it allows for a large building within a limited budget. The second adds an open pavilion as an entrance hall from the street. It becomes the new facade of the complex: the tip of the iceberg. The pavilion itself functions as an antechamber, giving a foretaste of events inside. While most of the building is hidden from its context, the roof terrace provides a confrontation with the city. The building is a tool to look, not an object to look at; it avoids becoming an image but instead creates an environment.

Author

51N4E
Johan Anrys
Freek Persyn
Peter Swinnen

Collaborators

Team: Tine Cooreman, Aline Neirynck, Bob De Wispelaere, Karel Verstraeten, Jan Opdekamp, Joram Van den Brande, Marc-Achille Filliol, Chris Blackbee, Emmanuel Debroise
Structural engineer: BAS (Dirk Jaspaert)
Technical engineer: Studiebureau Boydens

Edition

4
Shortlisted

Year

2012

City

Kortrijk

Country

Belgium

Website

www.51n4e.com

Surface area sqm

4.240

Cost €

2.000.000

Client

Public

© Photographer

Filip Dujardin