The ‘Kennedypark’, a product of its time, was designed with a focus on cars. However, new opportunities are emerging to integrate the ‘Kennedypark’ into an east-west-oriented network of cycling and walking routes. This would allow to connect with other spatial developments in Hoog-Kortrijk. The ambition of Kortrijk 2025, which focuses on everyday urbanism, can be realized through this vision. The new office building for Leiedal - designed to house Leiedal's partners and other organizations - can serve as a catalyst for transforming ‘Kennedypark’ into a genuine park environment.
The proposal envisions a park building that primarily faces the cycling and walking path cutting through ‘Kennedypark’. Along this route, a park can develop, featuring successive open spaces, inspired by the meadow currently established between Villa Voka and the latest expansion on the Leiedal site.
The park building consists of a gallery and a volume of seven floors. Each floor features an open-plan layout, offering flexibility in both division and design. Only two central shafts and the openings in the load-bearing outer shell are fixed elements. For the window openings, an optimal balance has been sought between daylight entry, outward views, and thermal efficiency. The gallery houses the elevators, stairwells, and restrooms, functioning as an informal space in contrast to the more formal office areas, which can operate autonomously.
This is a "no-tech" building with low-tech support systems. The principles of the reference building 2226, designed by architects Baumschlager & Eberle, serve as a guiding model, adjusted where necessary to create a low-tech, circular building.
The flexible floor plans offer maximum adaptability, allowing for various office layouts both now and in the future. Additionally, the building can accommodate other functions, such as educational or residential spaces. The building is highly insulated, offering ample natural light and excellent views. Similar to building 2226, the office requires no external energy under normal conditions. Thanks to its insulation and thermal inertia, it remains cool in summer and warm in winter. The building is naturally ventilated by opening the windows, while the gallery serves as a sunshade in summer and a thermal buffer in winter. In summer, the gallery remains open, in winter, it is enclosed.
To ensure comfort in all circumstances - such as low occupancy or prolonged heat waves - a supporting system is in place. This system provides additional mechanical ventilation via the two central shafts, along with thermal activation of the concrete floors (for heating and cooling). The building's design minimizes the need for heating and cooling, thus reducing the energy demand for the support system. The system operates with high efficiency, using renewable energy sources.
