2013 Kimberly VandenborneKimberly Vandenborne - FASHIONDEPOT - Hasard Cheratte
Hasard Cheratte - Through the wall.
A former coal mine - drifting near the verge of existence - becomes the stage for new design concepts and spatial programs, as a key point in the Meuse–Rhine Euregion.
Dysfunction.
An industrial complex arises in the image of the street, aligned with row houses alongside the Rue de Visé. Worn-down brickwork, broken windows and rusty metal gates define the facade of the site. The top of a concrete tower emerges from behind it, stately as a sculpture and framed by the green hillside of the platform of Herve.
Transformation.
The existing structures are defined and completed, as a derivative of the former site. The space becomes clear and structured by distinguishing 5 basic typologies, which emphasize the intrinsic qualities of each individual ‘object’: the base, the tower, the hall, the castle and the border. It is this border which embraces the site and opens towards the interior space. It is the border which supports and organises and which revives the complex. The border manifests itself as a wall - like the wall of a house - which provides protection, but also gives shape to a transition and delimits a space. ‘Through the wall’, where this border transcends the concept of the ordinary wall.
From dysfunction to new urbanity.
A former coal mine - drifting near the verge of existence - becomes the stage for new design concepts and spatial programs, as a key point in the Meuse–Rhine Euregion.
Dysfunction.
An industrial complex arises in the image of the street, aligned with row houses alongside the Rue de Visé. Worn-down brickwork, broken windows and rusty metal gates define the facade of the site. The top of a concrete tower emerges from behind it, stately as a sculpture and framed by the green hillside of the platform of Herve.
Transformation.
The existing structures are defined and completed, as a derivative of the former site. The space becomes clear and structured by distinguishing 5 basic typologies, which emphasize the intrinsic qualities of each individual ‘object’: the base, the tower, the hall, the castle and the border. It is this border which embraces the site and opens towards the interior space. It is the border which supports and organises and which revives the complex. The border manifests itself as a wall - like the wall of a house - which provides protection, but also gives shape to a transition and delimits a space. ‘Through the wall’, where this border transcends the concept of the ordinary wall.
From dysfunction to new urbanity.
