2024 - BSSAC - Mending Bruges
Thwo embellishment projects contributing to the attractiveness of the city of Bruges carried out in August 2024 by students from the Bruges Summer School of Architecture and Crafts.
Having spent the first two weeks of the programme exploring and studying in detail the built fabric of the city, it was time to put the lessons learned into practice. The project was divided into two stages - the master-planning stage and the architectural design stage. During the first stage students worked together in groups of 5 to design at a site-wide strategy for accommodating and laying out the various buildings on site. The second stage required them to work independently on drawing up the individual designs for a particular building
assigned to them.
Two different sites have been identified for this purpose - one at the heart of the historic city, the other on its periphery. Each site suffers from a host of various problems - both of an architectural and urban nature - and none of them fit comfortably into the fabric of the traditional city. The task was to reimagine these two locations in a form and language that is more sympathetic and respectful to Bruges.
Located at the heart of the historic city, the site is based around the building complex of the 19th-century St John’s Hospital. The site functioned as the city’s main hospital until the 1970s. The large 19th century ward building now serves as a convention centre and an exhibition venue, while the medieval hospital has been turned into a museum. Immediately in front of the south entrance to the convention centre is a small park, which historically belonged to the hospital. The park is flanked to its north and south by large areas of car parking. The site is one of the last remaining un-developed plots of land in the heart of the city.
On this site, the students were asked to draw up a masterplan for a new school of traditional arts, crafts and architecture in the city of Bruges - the summer school made permanent! The brief specified a total of ca. 120 students, split between 3 years, some of whom were to be housed in dormitories on-site. A specialised (publicly accessible) library and bookshop also had to be accommodated.
Site I - New School of Traditional Arts, Crafts and Architecture
Proposition by Alexander Dundas,
Edgar Patino, Esther Carlsson,
Hanan El Bazi & Joaquina Alvernaz.
