Academia
Under the stewardship of project developer Vanhout, POLO associated with architects of Stramien for the development of three distinct sites in the Borsbeek municipality, located in the urbanised green belt around Antwerp.
As part of this bid, POLO Labs took on the design of the “Academia” art school. The client selected a project site at a fair distance from the town centre, within one of the historic Forts which encircle Antwerp. The existing school facilities are located just across, in a worn-out building that is to be torn down.
Existing footprints
The commissioning authority suggested the new structure to be a continuation of the warehouse volume on the adjacent plot. In line with this option, we consider this typology to be a useful starting point for our proposal. Instead of trying to (re)invent an iconic building silhouette, we conceive a volume which extends the sequence of sloping roofs, reimagining the building that once stood here.
The flexible spatiality of a warehouse structure can easily accommodate the voluminous studio spaces required by the programme. Actually the long structural spans and open spaces would be adaptable to a range of functions, making this design exercise particularly relevant to POLO’s ongoing development of the “robust casco” concept.
However we are not satisfied with providing just a simple shed: we adapt this recognisable form to fit the specific needs of the school function. As such the generic nature of the typology is injected with the specificity required to make it fit for purpose — and acquire an identity of its own in the process.
Operations on a typology
An indentation in the building volume provides a recessed entrance: from here one can access the academy as well as the municipal landscaping department housed in the new building.
A cutout and localised reversal of the roof slope generates two rhombus-shaped windows, flooding an internal double-height atrium space with natural light. Classrooms are organised around this central space, replacing the traditional school layout with long corridors. At the ground floor this “forum”, or gathering space can be connected to adjacent studio spaces through flexible partitions, expanding and connecting it to the green landscape at both sides of the building.
The repetitive roof profile is also amended at the end of the building, where the roof continues to slope upwards instead of dipping down. With this generous, embracing gesture the building fans open towards the town centre in the distance. The floor to ceiling windows offer sweeping views of the pastoral landscape and invite abundant daylight into the studio spaces. The increased building height allows for the insertion of a first floor balcony over the whole width of the building. This end elevation — with its open character and repetitive modulation of columns — achieves a certain representative monumentality compared to the more restrained industrial character of the side elevations.
In between the old warehouse and the new building we suggest an open-air, semi-covered space. The fences around this join up the existing and new building volumes, while canopies on either side connect and complete the characteristic roof profile. This creates covered space for a bicycle parking and frames the new outdoor area as well as secures it. We propose a skate park here but its versatile, semi-public character means it could be adapted to a variety of activities and users according to the wants and needs of the moment.
