Past - Present – Future

“Architecture is more than just building”. It seems a somewhat self-evident message: architecture obviously stands for more than building and stacking work. For the design of buildings and cities, the designer naturally had to have knowledge of climate and soil conditions, technical knowledge of materials and construction forms and of the way in which all this comes together in the construction of a house. An architect must therefore be at home in many markets. And there lies both a problem and enormous potential. No one can fully master all this knowledge. Good architecture therefore often begins with the acceptance of the incompleteness of one's own knowledge and tapping into the expertise of others.

The client and manager of AST 77, Peter Van Impe, involved a large team of external experts in the realization of his private home and explored the “groundbreaking” possibilities of building in a construction team.

AST 77 realized one of the “Herenwoning” on the Anemoon in Tienen, the site of the former Provincial Boarding School. The house has been designed within the outlines of the innovative image quality plan for this site, drawn up by B-architects in collaboration with Environment. The master plan consists of six residential zones - each with its own atmosphere and adapted residential typology - grouped around the former athletics track that will be set up within the new plan as a central green living space. The mansion is one of the six typologies.

Structural basic material of the sustainable house designed by AST 77 is earth in combination with steel and concrete. Earth has a very low impact on the environment and has excellent thermal and construction properties. As a result, the material has great potential for sustainable construction.

From this perspective, AST 77 wanted to reuse the earth that was reclaimed on site. Together with BC studies, it was investigated how the present clay clay earth could be used for building. This resulted in a 15m high central rammed earth wall, one of the highest unbound rammed earth walls in Europe. All construction partners realized from the outset that this would be an innovative and experimental construction process, but the intensive and interactive sharing of knowledge, craft, technology and responsibilities made this impressive result possible.

The earth wall is the central core of the house. The 3 detached brick exterior walls are linked to it with steel plate floors. The 50 cm thick outer walls are built on both the inside and the outside of brick - baked earth - applied in a single and double Flemish bond with recessed joint.

The house forms the western end of the continuous row of 12 townhouses. At the head of this row, the house makes the transition between the Anemone site and the adjacent 11-hectare public Viander Park. The western facade of the house consists entirely of glass. The “head” opens up to its surroundings, making it seem as if nature is penetrating into the interior. On the outside, the reflective glass provides privacy and confronts passers-by with an impressive reflection of the poplars of Viander Park and the nature scene behind it. The large poplars also form a perfect natural sun protection against the low evening sun.

The house is designed as a “sustainable tailor-made suit”. The outer shell has been determined, but the plan and its interpretation are free and fully adaptable to the evolving housing needs of the current and future residents.

Material Used :
1. ArtLine - Sapa
2. Rammed Earth wall
3. Devonatural – Oak - Fremozia
4. Kerto beams
5. Brick Vandersanden
6. Kitchen tablet - Bealstone