Marc Koehler Architects and their team have won the competition for the extension and renovation of Campus Vesalius at Hogeschool Gent. The project is part of Open Call 19, organized by the Vlaams Bouwmeester in 2010 and developed with Delva Landscape Architects, Import Export Architecture, Daidalos, STBViaene and Less is More engineering. More images and complete press release after the break.
Due to a steady increase of students in the last years, the faculty of healthcare of Hogeschool Gent is in need for additional auditoriums and circulation spaces. The existing school building dates from 1974, and ironically “suffers from typical symptoms of a sick building”, such as lack of fresh air, daylight, outdoor spaces and social interaction. We proposed an integral ‘healing’ plan for the building and site that deals with all of these aspects.
Our plan does not only concentrate on the proposed extension zone at the back of the old building but instead inserts an auditorium right into the heart of the old building, energizing it from within. We create a win-win situation by using the new auditoria to improve the sustainability performance of the existing building. The interventions work as kind of “bypasses”, reorganizing the buildings’ circulation and energy system to increase the general sense of comfort, to save energy and to instigate new social learning spaces throughout the building.
Following the motto of “a healthy mind within a healthy body”, we think that the teaching of healthcare starts by showcasing what healthy schools can look and behave like: architecture as inspirator.
Architects: Marc Koehler Architects Location: Gen, Belgium Client: Hogeschool Gent Design team: Marc Koehler, Ramon Acha, Willem Baalbergen, Tjerk de Boer, Carlos Moreira, Miriam Tocino Local Advisors/collaborators: Import Export Architecture, Daidalos, Less is More Engineering, STB Viaene Landscape Architect: Delva Landscape Architects Images: Courtesy of Marc Koehler Architects
