A new central building is being designed for the Polder police zone, which covers the municipalities of Diksmuide, Koekelare, Kortemark and Houthulst. The starting point of the design is a functional accommodation in which the 'identity, accessibility and recognisability of the local police' is guaranteed.
Located one kilometre from the Diksmuide Market Square and at a limited distance from other municipalities, the accessibility is optimal on foot and by bicycle, car, bus and train. The surroundings of the site are morphologically very diverse, consisting of detached houses, a school, a cemetery, shops and industry... In this context, the Central Police Building can present itself as a public building on a human scale with an important signalling function. Recognisable, fitting into its surroundings, but also welcoming and accessible to all its users / everyone.
For the implantation of the new Central Police Building, we are looking for the boundaries of the site on the street side, taking into account the compulsory building-free zone of the BPA (Bijzonder Plan van Aanleg), with the aim of creating sufficient distance to the school and the surrounding buildings and leaving a high-quality green zone on the south side, with respect for the valuable trees on the site, which we are preserving as much as possible. This implantation provides a gradual zoning of the site: from a public, to a semi-public to a private, police and security zone.
We prefer a compact and readable building, which immediately shows where the public can approach the police. To this end, we let the public outdoor space penetrate the volume, creating an entrance square that turns into a covered entrance zone, leading to the entrance axis. The public areas parallel to the Woumenweg are transparent, in contrast to the ground-level police areas.
The upper levels have a different façade system, as only police offices are located there. In order to achieve an optimal indoor climate and good surveillance of privacy, a series of vertical blinds are attached to the façade. In this way, the volume of the building is accentuated. In this way, the design manages to link functional needs to a desire for a clear visual identity for the building and the police area.
client
Police Zone Polder
location
Diksmuide, Belgium
period
2021
procedure
Public competition
team
Lieven Achtergael, Isabelle Diericx, Kris Broidioi, Vincenzo Mallardo, Brenda Vandenberghe, Arnaud De Sutter
i.c.w.
Peritas (structural and technical engineering), Bureau de Fonseca (acoustical engineering)