Residence Wellington Oostend / BURO II

© Kris Vandamme

Architects: BURO II
Location: Oostend,
Project Year: 2009
Photographs: Kris Vandamme

© Kris Vandamme

The 114 apartments at the Royal Racetrack are part of a larger development of the site surrounding the Racetrack, where Kinepolis and the Wellington golf clubhouse also created a multitude of activities.

level 00 plan
© Kris Vandamme

Thanks to its column structure, the building allows for flexible use in the future. The maritime character can be seen in both the design and the use of materials with large glass surfaces, as well as the use of white concrete. Thanks to the continuous terraces, the sea is part of the experience of living in this building.

Cite: "Residence Wellington Oostend / BURO II" 31 Jan 2010. ArchDaily. Accessed 23 May 2013. <http://www.archdaily.com/48035>

11 comments

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    I’ve always wondered about the idea of continuous terraces; does anyone have any input or experience regarding successes or failures? The criticism with balconies and terraces has always been that they inevitably become storage spaces, which is dangerous when the terraces are such a prominent feature of the building. The photographs are deceptive…unless there was a managerial decision to allow/disallow certain activities within the terrace space. Another important item of note would be how ownership and territories are established. Let’s just hope your neighbors are good people…

    I agree with Mike about the diagnosis as a steamship, but as the intent was to create a “maritime” environment, I guess its a successful project. Not my personal taste, but that has always been an item of question! Let’s see more of this project.

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      The ownership of the balconies is pretty much stablished for every apartment, since they’re all totally private, divided both visually and physically by opaque glass panels between flats. And every appartment has generous storage rooms, plus the common “berging kinderwagens’” rooms on the corridors. In this particular case, the visual communication between the indoor space and the terrace is so permeable, that any “untidiness” there would be visible from the inside, so they’ll certainly be kept neat. What will probably happen is the “customization” of the balconies, in order to cover exterior views into them and into the appartments. I’m expecting to see a lot of greenery and straw fences… nevertheless, the building seems to be a nice canvas for that, so I think it’ll endure it.

      Well, in a nutshell: I do like it. Unlike freud, I wish the Belgian Coastline were more like this building: Quality buildings, fit for life, not playgrounds for the excitement of the glorifiers of what’s wrong.

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  5. Thumb up Thumb down 0

    Boring… as the whole environment of this project is! I’ve always wondered why Buro II gets so much posts here (maybe they have a good PR guy?), because what they do is everything but interesting. Actually, the so hated Atlantic Wall along the Belgian coastline has more to offer (ugliness! chaos! fun!) than this too designed, too low, too simple, too boring thing.

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  6. Thumb up Thumb down 0

    I think it’s quite elegant in its proportions and materiality, even though it’s not pushing any boundaries in terms of plan and section.
    I think the horizontal expression could have been even stronger if there wasn’t that big downturn beam between ground/first level.
    The top two floors look much better with the glazing continuing up to the underside of the projected slab.

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