Terracotta Baguettes in Vork Center | Terreal

Terreal Autan® XL Sunscreen in custom glazed colors was used in the renovation of the Vork community kitchen, childcare center, and offices. Architects B2Ai and Ensemble focused on respect for the existing building while projecting it into the future. They took up this challenge artfully in Kortrijk, on a particularly perilous project. They had to take a shabby mansion house and turn it into a ground floor building with three upper storeys, with three different functions:

1. Community kitchen
2. Children's nursery
3. Offices

Design Approach

A very simple black and white façade, in keeping with the molding on the house, the original Corinthian columns and regular spacing of the windows. Not as sensible and classical as it seems, however, because, on the third floor, devoted to the nursery, an ultra-colorful block has been added, covered in 4,500 Terreal Autan XL glazed sunscreen baguettes in eleven different colors, in complete contrast to the building as a whole.

Autan® XL Terracotta Baguettes

Arranged according to a smart algorithm that ensures a certain degree of regularity while avoiding monotony, these sunscreen baguettes are a kind of allusion to the multi-colored felt pens used by the children. The triangular tip of this monolithic structure overhangs the lower floors. Although radically different in its treatment, it is, however, completely connected to the essence of the mansion house at the heart of the structure: in fact, thanks to the suspended triangle, the colorful block completely replicates the shape of the original building, as a memory and tribute.

On the ground, darker-colored ornamental paving in the same dimensions serves as a symbolic shadow, providing total continuity. Three entrances, one for each of the building's purposes, ensure visitors instantly know where they are meant to go. The ground-floor entrance to the nursery is obvious due to the fact it is decorated with the same sunscreen baguettes. On the longer, south-facing façade, at every hour of the day, the sunlight reveals the joy of the colors that, according to visitors, have revived and undoubtedly revealed the character of this central spot at the entrance to the town.

Why Terracotta Sunscreen?

With the terracotta, the colors are of unparalleled depth. There are uneven patches, it's full of life and beautiful to look at. The architects were also concerned about the building's environmental footprint and its sustainability, so terracotta met their needs entirely. Terracotta has a tremendous future ahead of it, thanks to its malleability, sustainability, and durability.

With its fast and simple fixing system three days of fine weather in February were enough, with all the sunscreen baguettes having been pre-fitted in the Terreal factory. It was like a giant Meccano set.

Project Data