Incubator

摘要

This building was commissioned by the Provincial Development Company of West Flanders to provide 4 rentable working and production spaces for young companies in various fields. As the sole shared building in a zone of private enterprise, it needed to express that position. For this reason, the building is archetypically "box-like", simple and spartan but at the same time elegant, to set an example of economy of means and public engagement. The project demonstrates a refined use of standard industrial building components such as prefabricated concrete walls, aluminium cladding and cupboard-like office spaces. A continuous north-facing glasshouse facade brings light deep into the studios, mirroring the openness at the rear of the building. The 4 spaces are flanked by a communal meeting room whose triangular form distorts the building's simple geometry and plays a perspective game with visitors arriving in its parking lot. At the rear, the overhanging roof provides covered parking for the tenants, thus freeing the public front facade of the obligatory cars and maximising space for manoeuvres at the front gates. The distorted perimeter of the building is an exercise in box-ness, making an argument for a self-conscious utilitarian architecture.