The surrounding forest is the starting point to design a simple volumetry which contains all confrontations of the site : open vs. closed, trees vs. slope, materiality vs. transparency, building vs. environment.
Studio Name: URA Yves Malysse Kiki Verbeeck
Area: Brussels, Belgium
Year: 2011 – 2013
Location: Uccle, Belgium
Consultants: Util and D’Hondt
Photography Credits: Filip Dujardin
The gymnasium is dug into the natural slope. The facade shows the duality of the context : a strong, closed concrete wall on the one side and a wooden structure with a black steel plates cladded facade on the other side.
These two facades meet in the perspective of the stage-stair. The surrounding trees are seen from different perspectives.
“Going to the gym” confronts the pupils (again) with the basic elements of nature.
URA:
URA is located in Brussels and is characterized by a broad spectrum of projects, varied both in scale and function. ‘UR’-the name of the first city- supports a way of working. URA searches for universal, basic typologies and transforms them into a contemporary and precise identity in a specific context. The universal lies within the very specific. URA is led by two partners, Yves Malysse and Kiki Verbeeck.
