Sergison Bates architects . renders: © Forbes Massie Studio . + baunetz
Sergison Bates have won the international competition for the development of a Performing Arts Quarter in Leuven, Belgium, in partnership with Antwerp-based studio eld NV and theatre design specialists Charcoalblue.
At the heart of the proposal is a strategy for reimagining existing buildings and public spaces to create an “open house” under a great roof in the medieval city centre, on a 7-hectare former hospital site, next to the medieval Augustinessen Monastery and Predikheren Church. Instead of a single monumental building, the project focuses on creating connections with the historical layers of the urban fabric.
The project reinterprets the existing, embedding it into a collage of known, familiar elements of the city fabric. An adaptable, multi-faceted sequence of new and existing spaces is enclosed as in an open market hall, harnessing and strengthening their potential and acting as a template for creative dialogue with all partners, where ideas and intentions can be tested and shared. As well as a set of performance spaces and associated services, the new structure aims to be a cultural platform rather than a conventional arts venue. The roof signals the presence of the new complex in a powerful way that matches the monumental scale of neighbouring buildings and makes it clearly visible as a destination.
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