Carmody Groarke and TRANS architectuur | stedenbouw have won the Baumeister international competition to design an extension to the Design Museum Gent. Putting in place an innovative architecture, the project stands out from its historical context and encourages the city to explore new grounds.
Design Museum Gent, home for a large collection of Belgian and international applied arts, industrial and artistic designs, is located in the city’s historic center and comprises of three buildings. The first part is an 18th-century town mansion, Hotel de Coninck, the Leten House with a 16th-century core, and a 1992 wing. The latest and final addition to the complex occupies the residual land. It will connect the existing structures and be part of the museum, as its new space.
Museums are facing increasing challengers to connect visitors to their collections. We were therefore very inspired by Design Museum Gent’s ambition to create a new building that makes a visit to their museum relevant, inviting and accessible to all. We wanted to create a building that is civic in character at both street level and on the Gent skyline and designed a new ‘house’ for the museum as part of the set piece of the historic streetscape. We are looking forward to working with Design Museum Gent on this exciting phase of development. -- Andy Groarke, Director Carmody Groarke
Carmody Groarke, an architectural practice founded by Kevin Carmody and Andy Groarke, known for their work in historical contexts, and TRANS architectuur | stedenbouw, a Ghent based practice by Bram Aerts and Carolien Pasmans, have teamed up to create a new “house”. In fact, the project generates rooms at the exhibition, events and archiving levels. The addition comes to fill the missing part in the museum composition, producing connections to the spaces through a continuous circulation loop around the central courtyard garden. On the ground level, the architecture encourages exploration and enhances the chances of entering the museum.
