Tervueren 168

2012 - 2015

Heavy refurbishment of an office building including new-build extension on the avenue de Tervueren in Woluwe.
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Site
168, Avenue de Tervueren 1150 Brussels
Client
L.C.E.B.E.
Structural engineering
Bureau d'Etudes Matriche
Services engineer
Cenergie
Acoustics
Venac
Landscaping
Szternfeld Céline
artist
Yves Zurstrassen
Contractor
CIT BLATON
Surfaces
7 864 m² above ground level and 5 736 m² below ground level
Budget
6 077 000 € htva

Complete description

Tervueren 168 explores and qualifies the multiplicity of possible perceptions encountered when engaging with the existing site, whether in close proximity or further afield from the busy boulevard, static or in movement, day or night, globally or in detail. The result is a collaborative work between the Belgian artist Yves Zurstrassen and architectesassoc+

The defining pillar of the project rests at the heart of the building, in its freely accessed entry where the abstract oeuvre "Des Fenêtres Colorées dans la Ville" (2003) will be hung. Zurstrassen's development of the painting’s numerous themes is sensed in a myriad of manners throughout, including in its exterior envelope, thus inviting a novel take each time. The artist's perception, as much as the artwork itself, readily resonates with the built space and with the proposed landscaping.

The use of numerous mediums contibute with varying intensity to the needs of the endeavor at hand : here enamelled plates or colored glass ceilings, there a façade with colored slats or subtle lighting effects,...

Alongside the concerted work with the artist, complete refurbishment of the building is undertaken : the technical upgrade, bolstered by thorough insulation of the outer skin, allows for exemplary energy-saving performance. An innovative ventilation system is integrated in all-new window frames, boosting the occupants' comfort factor. Street-level access is wide and generous, leading into a wood-framed extension at the back comfortably nestled between party walls and beneath large century-old trees. Thus the entry's more formal travertine ambiance, having regained its former lustre, gives way when entering the tranquil garden behind to a honey-colored larchwood decor, easily connecting with the surrounding treetops.