The project is the result of an Open Call competition in Belgium for the construction of a new community centre, art centre and library (VTC) in the centre of Edegem, a suburban municipality close to the city of Antwerp, for which Marc Koehler Architects, in collaboration with Delobelle Architecten (Gent) and DELVA Landscape Architecture (Amsterdam/ Antwerp), have been awarded first prize with their design “The Missing Link”.

The design focuses on the strengthening of the suburban municipality center by providing the community with a new cultural hub that aims to reinforce the social life of the town, an important link in a chain of public spaces that the area was lacking.

The new VTC is also a very respectful intervention in a site of great heritage value due to the existence of a neo-flamish renaissance style villa, the House Hellemans art center, and garden from the 19th century which the new building embraces and preserves as a hidden gem within the municipality.

The program takes the form of two contrasting volumes, a higher two-story block containing a library program and a lower pavilion in which the community center areas find its place. The higher block creates a dialog with the House Hellemans while the glass pavilion encloses the garden, giving it back the intimate character that it once had. From this new relation between the art center and the new VTC, a new cultural loop is generated around the garden which provides a very necessary space for relaxation, reading, exhibition and reflection.

The intensive use of wood in the construction, from its façade to its structure, combined with a whole range of passive cooling systems like green roofs, sun shading screens and pergolas aim to make this building a very durable, low-maintenance and sustainable design that will also be able to adapt to the ever changing demands of libraries thanks to the flexibility of the plan and modular façade.

The construction of the new community centre and library is in all respects a project of cooperation with the Edegem inhabitants. The input of residents was the base of the project’s program definition in the Open Call competition and also in the selection of the winning design. This cooperation between the designers and the community will follow along the entire design process, as the designers will work closely with the residents and future users to ensure that all demands and wished are fulfilled.

(Source: Marc Koehler Architects, 2018)