CIRC(US) BUILDING

10.000 square meters of offices are concentrated under one roof, 250 cars are packed on both an underground and an entrance level. The entrance level is made semi-public with its central hall, atria, escalators, small auditorium and four sales units. Two slabs sit on top with offices organized around a core that contains circulation and sanitary facilities.

We went for a building with affinities to a circus, a casino, a palazzo. The outer form is obtained by a topological movement between a circle and a square, or better between a circle and a cube (cubus in Dutch/ Flemish) which then offered the name of [...]the building: circ(us). An extra condition is that the contour of the circle equals the contour of the square. Both are 230 meters long. As the cube gradually ‘unfolds’ into a circle, we get the curious development whereby the four corner points recede level by level while running walls bend outwards. The structure of the building follows the same logic. Free standing columns between circle and square lean over fanwise. Only the columns placed on the mutual momenta of circle and bows in-between remain upright. The roof-slab we have oriented by contrast accordingly to three headlines found in the surrounding context. In a theatrical gesture the roof slab dips toward the surrounding water. In suchthe entrance gate is marked.