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  • The St Pieterschurch in De Panne had been underused for years and is now seeking a new purpose. The building's authentic monumentality gives it the (attractive) power and appropriate scale to serve as an important community space: a house of knowledge and culture. A next-generation library where people not only come to borrow books but can also relax, attend lectures and living room concerts, study, hold meetings, or meet up with friends.

    With respect for the existing architecture - which, though not protected, is of high quality - five interventions have been designed to prepare the building for its new function. A light wooden floor is added at the level of the south aisle, where the permanent bookshelves will be clustered. Both the reading café and the former sacristy are conceived as contemporary side chapels and each brings significant added value to the library with their own specific functions.

    The main space of the church is kept free from fixed structures and interior walls and will be arranged as an open library landscape with mobile elements that can sometimes fill the space and at other times be moved aside to make room for cultural events. A textile installation winding between the columns is used to shape the central space both spatially and acoustically, making diverse use possible.

  • Location: De Panne, BE | Program: Reconversion of a church to a social hub | Year: 2022-2026 | Client: Municipality of De Panne | Status: under construction | Task: full process, architecture, landscape and interior | Budget: €2.600.000 excl. furniture | Size: 1060m² | Collaboration: Fallow + B-Juxta + Acme | Landscape: Fallow | Structure: Labeau | Climate: Tech3 | Textile design: Flore Fockedey | Acoustics: Daidalos-Peutz | Antropology: Simply Community | Vegetation: GroenLab | VC & EPB: Feys | People: Matthias Salaets, Michaël Stas, Carmen Van Maercke, Jan-Uwe Lorent, Alexandru Moldovan, Eva Schütze, Montse Balle | Visualisations: Alexandru Moldovan | Execution: Wycor | Photographs: Construction site photos by Anton Witdouck