community centre
This community centre is located in the centre of Beselare, in between the church and the municipal sports hall. The sloping terrain structures how the building functions, and allows a visual interaction with the surrounding landscape.
The program includes an entrance, lobby and meeting room, located on the level of the town centre, and a multi-use hall on the lower level that is partially dug into the hillside.
The structure of the building consists of a concrete, acoustically insulated main volume, housing the hall. This volume is ringed by a steel structure that houses the lobby and meeting room, and works as an acoustic buffer towards the outside.
On the lower level, the dug-in hall is enclosed by service functions that also work as an acoustic buffer. The inner walls of the hall are constructed in concrete blocks. The perforated brick bond, applied on the upper part of the walls, proves a cheap and effective measure to improve the hall’s acoustic performance. Several interior windows provide a visual relation with the lobby and allow for daylight to enter into the hall. Community centre, sports hall and church define the public core of the town. The open space in between them provides sufficient car parking spaces and allows for (combined) outdoor activities to take place.
