The "As Found" design studio had as objective to learn how to design sustainable and fragile interventions in the city of Ghent (within the ’19th century belt’), aiming to discover the essence of a place. The students  were asked to search a significant place where acting in redundancy was possible (without defined program). The attitude to be learned was that reading and understanding the place in a profound way can lead to a  sustainable project.

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After an extensive visit to different locations in the city of Ghent, we decided to intervene in a parking lot, which had an old metal roof structure from when it was the "établissements textiles Fernand Hanus". Each location ‘calls’ for a specific interpretation and program and in the case of the site we start from the palimpsest metaphor to be able to interpret the different layers of interventions over time and what would be the next layers to be added. 

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An important exercise was the critical definition of the program, opting for a minimal and calculated impact approach, we proposed - after  extensive research - the activation of the site during the night hours through small interventions that would facilitate its use, such as the renovation of an old warehouse, remnants of the 19th century factory, in a coffee, as well as the conversion of the parking area into an open-air cinema and other recreational uses.

 

Understand the fragile essence of a place and learn about the relationship between the context and the architectural program can lead to a simple and obvious architectural project that fortifies the chosen spot, adds value to the environment by removing redundancy while adding respectful contextual interventions, acting in a conscious and coherent way.