Historically, Aalst is an important industrial town on the Dender. Especially the textile industry flourished, a sector of which the city became the epicentre in the 18th century. A remnant of this golden age can be found along the Pierre Corneliskaai. Once a weaving mill, later transformed into a plastic factory under the wings of Tupperware and today a new showroom for designer furniture of bathroom and kitchen specialist Sterck NV.
The former post office site in Aalst was a mixture of industrial buildings of the former ‘Filature du Canal’. The “Filatures& Urban Fabric(s): Masterplan stationsomgeving Aalst” masterplan, designed by the Christian Kieckens Architects, started from a site conversion, whilst keeping the main building of the former mill in the Manchester building along the Vaartstraat. The modifications to this building have been kept to a minimum because of organisational and programmatic interpretation, which corresponds with the scale of the building. The facades have been cleaned and re-pointed and equipped with new outside joinery work after its historical model. The building has been renovated on the inside also, in order for it to comply with current regulations, without however interfering with the warehouse’s authenticity.
The new complex for the municipal library and the Academy for Performing Arts in the heart of the Flemish city of Aalst will have a lively, urban character. It may sound contradictory, but precisely because the plan of the design by KAAN Architecten is functional, the result is a certain spatial freedom that enriches the experience of the building. The complex, situated on the corner of Oude Graanmarkt and Esplanadestraat, will be completed in 2018 – a century on from the end of World War I.
Project team: Bas Barendse, Tjerk de Boer, Sebastiaan Buitenhuis, Sebastian van Damme, Raluca Firicel, Narine yulkhasyan, Joost Harteveld, Martina Margini, Giuseppe Mazzaglia, Kevin Park
Main contractor: Groep Van Roey NV
Advisor construction: UTIL Struktuurstudies
Advisor installation: Studiebureau R. Boydens NV
Advisor fire control and acoustics: ABT
Advisor sustainability: Studiebureau R. Boydens NV
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