The Ardo site in the Wezestraat belongs to a group of historically grown companies with agriculture-related activities at 'zoned' locations that can be found at various locations in the region. Ardo wants to realise a high-quality, iconic but affordable office building with a representative character for the Ardo Group and a clear relationship with agriculture (Bio, MIMOSA, etc.). To this end, a zone is defined within the factory site that extends from the new weighbridge to the existing office building by architect Delafontaine.
The zone consists of a container depot, a temporary office function, the existing office and a small green zone on the scale of the office. From the existing green heart of the site, we wanted to develop a new architectural concept that, with maximum respect for the existing infrastructure, would represent the entire group in a prominent way and, moreover, would reinforce the set-up of the logistic flows and coherence of the site.
Flexible office space for the Group and the factory-related services, a semi-public area for larger training courses/meetings/visitors and a social programme. These are the three major programme components. A first research into the existing volume showed major spatial problem which fragmented and loosen the cohesion of the site. To prevent this fragmentation welink the spaces together strongly through a reinterpretation of the green area of the historical farmhouse typology. The base of the building encloses a high-quality outdoor space in which the existing office building is integrated. It forms the 4th facade of the inner garden but retains its own autonomy in relation to the new interventions.
The entire plinth is accessible (semi-public) and ties in closely with the with the landscape parking. The actual offices (private) are arranged in a stacked volume. This volume is elegant and very rational in terms of layout. Given its height, this volume also enters into a spatial dialogue with the logistics centre.
location
Ardooie, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium
period
2017
team
Lieven Achtergael, Sander Verhanneman, Matteo Ballarin, Steven Van Schoor
i.c.w.
Demo architecten (architecture design), BM Engineering (structural studies)