Office Building Caractère

This building for a travel agency of 25 employees has been developed from the existing situation and context.

From the clarity of the volume, we tried to prioritize the presence of an amalgam in the building: fragments of the surrounding buildings are taken over in order to place an integrated volume.
The division of the roof in the transverse direction makes it possible to have a reduced ridge height and thus refers to the typology of the habitat, while the partitioning of the windows recalls neighboring buildings such as a school and a cloister.
The building is covered with a uniform dark tile envelope that allows it to blend into its surroundings.
The emphasis and the details of the windows imply that the whole is not of an industrial character but can be perceived as domestic: receding parts for accesses, sliding or hinged windows whose glass is either transparent or coloured green, or fragments using blue glass.
The insertion of such a building with its own function reinforces the functioning of a communal core.
The office building has a base area of ​​32 meters wide and 15 meters deep and develops on three levels with the following functional division:
- on the ground floor: entrance, reception, meeting rooms and storage spaces required for brochures.
- on the first floor: staff workspaces, management offices, accounting and computer rooms.
- on the second floor: multi-functional space, refectory and interior patio.

The building is set in a landscaped garden where the necessary parking spaces have been provided between hedges and trees, as well as terraces.
The combination of the bicycle shelter and the location of the containers was worked into a separate, long-lying volume, forming a terraced volume at the back of the building and thus becoming an integrated part of the project.
The existing garden wall on the sides and at the back of the ground is preserved, as is the original slope at the back of the building.
The accesses for occasional deliveries have been treated in such a way that there is no nuisance to traffic on the street.
A series of parking spaces for visitors is also incorporated into the terrain so that it is no longer necessary to park on the street.
Because of its function, it adapts completely to the set of events present in the existing core: it is not a large-scale office building that remains empty during the weekends, nor a "dwelling set" where there is no movement during the day.
At night, this building will also have its own subtle radiation with light accents and will thus be able to form a new distinct element recognizable from the street.

Christian Kieckens, december 2001

The construction of the building is based on a clear and logical concrete structure filled with masonry and covered with tiles.