CLIENT

Oryx Projects

ARCHITECT

360 architecten

FACING BRICKS

Hand-Made Nature7 Brick M

PROCESSING

20 mm flush, off-white, random bond

More info about 'building met Brick7'?

Complex inner-city projects are challenging but extremely exciting at the same time. Leiekouter in Ghent is a fine example of this type of project. Not only is there a substantial difference in height at the site situated between Nederkouter and the Leie (and measured between Tybaertsteeg and Zoutstraat) but also the stately town houses were all oriented towards the elevated Nederkouter. The Leie side had been neglected over the years and used as a warehouse or as a closed office façade. The design created by 360 Architecten seeks to restore contact with the water, improving the quality of living considerably.

The Leiekouter project comprises two listed city palaces and three new construction volumes that fit into a larger urban building block.

Kris Buyse (360 architecten): “As a firm, we have a keen interest in complex inner-city projects. In the case of Leiekouter, the historical context was a starting point for us. We started with the old plot structures of the two listed city palaces and the old piano factory. We combined these to form a single spacious site but with the difference that not only did we integrate the new buildings in the row of façades along Nederkouter, we also gave them a new orientation and view of the water. That was not the case at all in a previous renovation campaign with offices which were oriented with their back towards the water. We thought that was a missed opportunity that we could make the most of with the new project.”

The historical research conducted by 360 Architecten revealed that the link definitely used to be a strong one. For example, old photographs showed a wonderful rhythm of warehouses, workshops and park gardens along the water being enjoyed to the full by the bourgeoisie, sitting on teahouse balconies, watching the boats go by. They wanted this project to restore that atmosphere and fulfil the vision of the riverbank as a residential neighbourhood in a contemporary way. This was also made possible by the fact that the site slopes steeply between the front façade and the Leie and also its depth, relief and orientation enabled the construction of active, urban façades backing onto the public domain across the water once again.

360 Architecten translated those ambitions into the design of a closed building block. “It is made up of the historic buildings along Nederkouter and the new building volumes with the ‘park building’ on Tiebaertsteeg, the ‘quay building’ on the ruins of the old Hyfte piano factory and the ‘corner building’ on Zoutstraat and Nederkouter. We then dissected the building block at the location of the two alleys. This created hallways the depth of the cell wall in the form of paved courtyards that provide access to both the existing and new volumes. Finally, we completely opened up the building block to the riverbank, with the space between the new cornerstones of this site being used to create a new park garden connecting the courtyard to the water and the park opposite. By doing that, we managed to make the best possible use of the two sides of the plots,” says Kris Buyse.

The Leiekouter building complex is located in the heart of the city centre. That was one of the reasons for choosing brick as a material. Kris Buyse: “The selection of just one type of brick for all the new buildings is the main factor that ensures clear cohesion between the various volumes at this complex site. The brick we selected has also given our three urban buildings a solid appearance with subtle shading, a character that we had envisaged for our design. It was the location and the scale of the project that led to the selection of a light shade of brick. The choice enabled us to give the rather large buildings an appropriate scale. Brick M from Vande Moortel's Nature7 series has another important trump card: the beige-ochre shade is a great match for the Balegem sandstone used at the bottom of the original quay wall along the Leie – another link that we considered important. But what is maybe even more interesting than the colour is the ecological format of the brick. Being 7 cm deep rather than the classic 10 means that there is extra space in the cavity, enabling us to use soft, more sustainable insulation instead of the classic hard type. And this ecological format also provides a number of benefits in terms of raw materials and transportation because you need less of them which means less energy consumption as well as CO2 emissions.”

The Hand-Made Nature7 Brick M was processed with a wide joint (approximately 20 mm) in a light beige colour. In a way, the wide and light joint tempers the rather yellow base colour of the brick, giving the façades a generally lighter tint. The use of various concrete elements in acidified and polished white-beige concrete also helped to ultimately achieve a lighter appearance. The concrete elements accentuate the tectonics of the building – plinth, door and window frame, sill, post and lintel, terrace and ledge – and bring refinement to the façade.
To reinforce the solid appearance of the new building volumes, custom moulded bricks were made for the obtuse angles in order to avoid continuous corner joints. It was also ensured that expansion joints did not coincide with the corners of the buildings for the same reason. Instead, they mostly coincide with the terrace openings and overhangs which, due to their stacked character, involved interrupting the brickwork in any case.

360 Architecten strives to create sustainable architecture in every project it undertakes. It starts with an intelligent shell, a building structure that will stand for 100 years and that provides sufficient flexibility in terms of its interpretation. That was achieved here with large floor spans and a minimum number of internal load-bearing elements. Besides a well thought-out architectural structure, the design also included the implementation of sustainable technologies such as a collective heating system with heat pumps and an extensive PV installation. Depaving is another aspect of sustainability that features strongly at this site in the form of a lush communal courtyard garden that provides a green, connecting and social space in the building block.

Kris Buyse: “For us, sustainability and circularity go hand in hand. Dealing with aspects such as materials, water, greening and depaving are facets that we have to question in every project we undertake. So it came as a pleasant surprise with the Leiekouter project when we discovered that the quay wall had been built with lime mortar using old bricklaying techniques. That made it easy for us to recover the bricks. We built the new garden walls at the site using the same method and we have also used it on new projects since then. The fact that we are now increasingly using lime and jointing mortars when constructing façades implies that in the future, it will be possible to dismantle them again and all the recovered bricks can be reused for new purposes. That fits in perfectly with our vision of circular thinking.”