3 apartments

The bridge over Albert Channel.

Project Details

• Project Name: 3 Apartments
• Client: M. Vanoppen
• Project Type: Apartments
• Principal Designer/s: Egide Meertens
• Design Team: Egide Meertens Architect bvba
• Contractor/s: Masonry work: Simenon; Roofwork: Devad; Outside cabinet work: Belisol; Heating and Sanitary work: Heedfeld nv; Electricity: Dirk Nassen; Plasterwork: Johan Reynders
• Date of commencement of project: 2004
• Date of completion of project: 2006
• Location of site: Vroenhoven, Riemst (Belgium)
• Built-up Area: 219 sq. m.
• Cost of Construction/Execution: € 470.594

View while driving on the main road.

Words from the architect

The project is located in Vroenhoven on the Maastrichtersteenweg at the bridge over the Albert Channel, this is the connecting road between Tongeren and Maastricht.

The environment plan clearly shows that the project is located near the bridge site that is up for renovation, opposite the access road to the nearby village Kanne. To the left of the plot there is the Albert Channel, to the right there are some terraced dwellings. These dwellings consist of 2 building layers with a pitched roof.

Front view of the building.

The project's character is defined to a considerably extent by the various preconditions. The plot is located near the bridge site and opposite the access road to Kanne and it closes off the terraced housing on the Maastrichtersteenweg. The project not only zeroes in on the bridge but also on the wider environment of the whole of the bridge site (with the hotel and catering part below it and the Bunker across the Channel) and contributes to its architectural quality. The project tries to enter into a dialogue with the future bridge site, treating it with the necessary degree of respect. Respect for the past with the bunker and respect for the future with the new bridge.

View of the corner of the building.

The combined action of the existing preconditions generates a highly complex context in which the project must be shaped. To arrive at a simple overall concept, the project is conceived according to the following principles: a clear building structure, a logical organisation of the various housing units with a corresponding lay-out, a constant search for a good living quality and the integration in the road image and the environment.

Interior view of the terrace.

The building is 3 building layers high and consists of 3 flats of + 200 sq. m. each and 3 garages. The building starts from a closed volume with protruding terraces anticipating to the landscape: these terraces are orientated towards the bridge and the channel. The simple shape of the building is a reference to the bunker across the Albert Channel and to the future shape of the bridge with the hotel and catering function below it.

To ensure that sufficient light is entering at the back of the adjacent houses, the backside of the project is finished in a step-like way.

Exterior view of the terrace.

The 3 garages are located at the back of the building and can be reached via the new servitude road that links up with the Trekweg. The garage doors are thus turned away from the road and are not visible from the Maastrichtersteenweg.

Special attention is paid to the integration in the road image and environment. As the entrance of the building is located against the connected houses, the building comes loose from them. Also because the building is placed 13 metres off the road axis, an incision is created in the road image, which makes the building come loose from the row of houses.

Credits

• Text, Egide Meertens (translation by 'Aalsters Vertaalbureau')
• Photographs by Philippe van Gelooven, Courtesy of Egide Meertens