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WHS // Workshop Building Schoten // BE

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Workshop building with concierge apartment, office spaces, cafeteria, changing rooms, wood- and metal workshop, garage and outside storage space
Miguel Loos / HUB
BAS, Bureau Bouwtechniek
De Scheepvaart
2002-2006
€ 1.300.000,- (excl. VAT and fees)
2.375 m2
realized
Wijnegembaan, Schoten, BE

The workshop building is located in a context of sculptural industrial buildings along a canal. Our task was to design an inexpensive building that houses a multitude of functions. In order to keep the plot free of clutter, we decided to integrate the storage zone into the volume, literally increasing the substance of the building. The required fence around the plot "shrinks to fit": Instead of encircling the whole plot, it becomes a protective skin for the building. In fact it forms an inexpensive façade, through which its black PU hypodermis, remains visible. Inside, the workshops and storage spaces are situated in the body and tail of the building, while the more complex functions are fittingly located in its head. An incision marking the main entrance splits the head into two: One part containing the cafeteria and office space, the other housing the concierge apartment which has a balcony looking out over the canal.
The result is a beastlike structure that can easily compete with its older neighbours when it comes to sculptural shape and recognizability.