These two glass and steel pavilions erected by architecture collective De Kort Van Schaik Van Noten in the gardens of a disused presbytery form a neighborhood hall and youth club for a Belgian village .

Moorsel Community Centre by De Kort Van Schaik Van Noten

The Moorsel Local community Centre was conceived by De Kort Van Schaik Van Noten – a collaborative produced up of Rotterdam-primarily based De Kort Van Schaik and Antwerp studio Van Noten Architects – for the site of a listed 18th-century pastor’s house and its walled gardens in Moorsel, a village about 20 miles north-west of Brussels.


Related story: Neighborhood Centre by Dierendonck Blancke


The architects left the existing constructing unaltered, including two new structures along one particular side of the internet site to house the multi-purpose hall and self-contained youth club. They also opened up the existing walled gardens to generate a public park.

Moorsel Community Centre by De Kort Van Schaik Van Noten

“In incorporating new buildings to the presbytery complicated, the purpose was to find a way of integrating them with the characteristic ensemble of presbytery and walled garden,” the De Kort Van Schaik team told Dezeen.

Moorsel Community Centre by De Kort Van Schaik Van Noten

“The guiding principle was that the new architecture must confirm the presbytery’s status as the most expressive creating at the leading of the backyard and extend, as if it were 1 of the backyard walls, along 1 side of the garden,” they explained.

Moorsel Community Centre by De Kort Van Schaik Van Noten

The two structures feature glass walls with black steel frames, concrete floors, and a flat timber and steel roof. The glazing is set away from the edge of the concrete floor and roof slabs to create a narrow covered walkway along the edges of both buildings.

Moorsel Community Centre by De Kort Van Schaik Van Noten

The community hall is situated closest to the outdated stone church, while the youth club sits at the bottom of the backyard in a more wooded spot of the site.

Moorsel Community Centre by De Kort Van Schaik Van Noten

The hall is utilised by village residents for events, meetings and the occasional movie night, although the second construction kinds a new home for the village youth group.

Moorsel Community Centre by De Kort Van Schaik Van Noten

Within, concrete walls are left exposed and chunky timber ceiling beams conceal lighting and ventilation methods from view.

Moorsel Community Centre by De Kort Van Schaik Van Noten

A strip of landscaping containing a stage and seating location separates the two buildings. Low concrete walls and bracing steel trusses offer some privacy and shelter for the backyard, even though breaks in the wall offer links with the more substantial gardens and give views of a church steeple.

Moorsel Community Centre by De Kort Van Schaik Van Noten

“The new architecture enables the public to knowledge the unique ambiance of the historical heritage,” extra the architects.

Moorsel Community Centre by De Kort Van Schaik Van Noten

Photography is by Filip Dujardin.


Task credits:

Architect: De Kort Van Schaik Van Noten
Client: VZW Parochiale Werken Sint-Martinus
Group: Robert-Jan de Kort, Sander van Schaik, Sophie Van Noten
Structural engineering and constructing providers: Shut to Bone
Contractor: Van Herreweghe Bouw, Alpas NV, De Jonge &amp Zoon

Moorsel Community Centre by De Kort Van Schaik Van NotenScenario strategy Moorsel Community Centre by De Kort Van Schaik Van NotenSite prepare Moorsel Community Centre by De Kort Van Schaik Van NotenBasement floor plan Moorsel Community Centre by De Kort Van Schaik Van NotenGround floor strategy Moorsel Community Centre by De Kort Van Schaik Van NotenSection Dezeen

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