Gare Maritime falls in many awards
04.10.2021
The new interpretation of the old station hall is finding acclaim at home and abroad.
Juries voted unanimously in favour of the Gare Maritime. The new 'covered city' could pocket subsequent prizes:
Congrats to colleagues Jan Moens, Nadja Van Houten, Gretel De Smet, Kathleen Rens, Paulus Present, Stephanie Van Goethem, Gert Biebauw, Bart Van den Bossche and Martijn Vyncke for this great team effort!
The ARC20 Architecture Award jury, led by Dikkie Scipio, praised the way the architects have realised a beautiful covered city.
New kind of urbanity
The jury is impressed by the way Neutelings Riedijk Architects contributes to the revitalisation of this part of Brussels with this project. The architects have succeeded in adding an enormous amount of square metres. At the same time, they do not shy away from leaving spaces empty. This has resulted in a mix of a new kind of urbanity. Moreover, through re-use and the addition of wood, the project provides a good answer to the issue of sustainability. This makes Gare Maritime a great exemplary project for contemporary design challenges in architecture.
The ARC20 Architecture Award is granted to recently completed projects that innovatively combine high performance in the field of sustainability in the broadest sense of the word with surprising architecture.
A total of 138 projects were submitted for the ARC20 Architecture Award.
At the third edition of the Real Estate Society (RES) Awards, or the Oscars of the real estate sector, Gare Maritime was awarded as the best Belgian real estate project of 2020 in the Commercial Buildings category .
The jury's verdict: "If one project in Brussels can demonstrate without words that there can be a bright and sustainable future for dilapidated patrimony, it is Gare Maritime. The contemporary interpretation of this impressive and historic station hall, with its innovative work and retail concept, is a unique project. It not only creates a pleasant environment for everyday visitors, it also heralds an era of a new kind of urbanity."
Hout Info Bois, the Belgian centre for technical information and promotion of timber and timber applications, handed out the first Belgian Timber Construction Award.
Out of some 100 entries, the Gare Martime emerged as the winner in the non-residential building category.
The Gare Maritime is a symbolic project, not just because of the images it evokes, but because of its scale and its relationship with heritage. The roof structure of the building has been renovated and the wood within that structure is particularly rich and refined. Moreover, great attention was paid to every small detail and finish of the furniture, as well as to the construction of the stairs and volumes in the Gare Maritime. This is truly a feat of the design team. Indeed, they have given native wood a starring role and almost in its purest form, you might say. (dixit the jury)
A seven-member jury on behalf of the European Commission and the Fundació Mies van der Rohe retained 40 projects from 18 countries out of 532 entries to compete for the prestigious award.
Many of the issues raised correspond to the aims of the New European Bauhaus - building a sustainable future through creativity, innovation and imagination - and focus on reuse and circularity as a key form of sustainability; inclusion through collective and participatory processes that map new approaches to urban development and thereby contribute to the improvement of local and global policies; and the use of materials, skills and technology in relation to aesthetic and overall values.
During elaboration, attention was also paid to the circularity of the construction by designing demountable connections and modular building elements. This modular system can be easily integrated into the existing spatial structure of trusses and columns. The modular elements with the same dimensions increase compatibility and reusability.
A thorough analysis of the existing materials resulted in maximum preservation of the existing monument. For example, 90% of the wooden roofs, including signage from the early 20th century, could be retained.
