Retail Park “B-Park” / BURO II
Architects: BURO II & BONTINCK
Location: Bruges, Belgium
Client: NV Codic
Project Year: 2007 -2008
Constructed Area: 42.000 sqm
Photographs: Kris Vandamme
By order of NV Codic, BURO II built a new shopping centre north of Bruges. Some fifteen retail chains are located there.
This retail park is situated on an axis that runs straight onto the de Blankenbergsesteenweg, which clearly defines two zones: the developed zone that sits shoulder to shoulder with the industrial zone and the open space of the parking lot that is the transition into the green landscape of the ‘De Blauwe Toren’ crematorium.
An awning makes for a transition from the building to the parking lot. This awning assures the unity and recognisability of the site through a new skyline, but at the same time, it creates opportunities for advertising and profiling for the different retail chains that will be located there.
The clean rhythm of the parking bays is completed with a patchwork of various elements that determine the character of this space. The integration of the green elements on the parking lot determines the view, but the same goes also for the water surfaces that function as buffers for the draining of rainwater. The multifunctional boxes for shopping trolleys and the bicycle stalls complete this view together with the lighting elements.
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- schematic plan
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- elevations
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- general plan
Some things I like here… the lime info desk, the circular lights and the car park waterfalls – BUT… what’s with the appalling signage by landlord and retailers, and the ungainly monstrosity of an illuminated fascia for tenants signage… ouch!
I’m missing a certain architectural ‘finesse’ in this design, a way of finishing the design and let it stand out from the crowd. It’s a well known typology for a Western European shopping mall, and apart from the lime desks and the circular lights in the ceiling I see not much difference.
“The clean rhythm of the parking bays is completed with a patchwork of various elements that determine the character of this space. The integration of the green elements on the parking lot determines the view”
is this a joke?
its utter rubbish. just a typical faceless out of town shopping centre/big shed, surrounded by acres of asphalt.
This is like all those other ordinary malls in those industrial zones in Belgium. With a touch of ‘design’ like a lime desk ! Waw ! (yawn) Trying to make architecture by stretching a building like the modernists in their days … It looks like they ‘ve put a new façade on an old ’70s warehouse. Not architecture.