TRANS, from Latin (“through”,"across,“beyond”)
Two aparently symmetrical buildings, one square between them and two main diferent design styles allows you to introduce on the inside forgiving the outside.
Those two buildings are located on the old hospitalary centre of Gent, which nowadays hosts a big art and cultural campus. In it we find those two buildings owned by Le Ballet C de la B ballet's company and LOD, a theatral company.
Those constructions seems to be symmetrical but due to a few little details they aren't. Between them, the appearent "point of symmetry" its a square which allows the union of the two buildings and open them to the Lys river which passes tangentially to the enclosure letting the space be more public and open to the city.
By the way, the buildings aren't opening to that new square. As a result of the position how the buildings are placed, the open part of the building its located in a small and paceful lateral street. However, those openings of the buildings are possible thanks to big windows which covers an entire facade and allows the observor to look through it and discover the inside and it's activity.
This big glass suface its part of the external skin, composed by neutral colors, wood and glass providing a really plain facade treatment. Nevertheless, there is another skin, the interior one. This one is composed by concret and metal elements, combined with freemasonry and a few green elements, providing an extreamly different appearence from the exterior skin, trying to seem nearly unfinished. By the way, if you take a look, all the elements make a perfect composition. This difference between the internal and external skin let you forgive the outside and be focus on the new univers of the inside.
Its worth mentioning that the unic point of union between the buildings its provided by the towers of the two buildings. The glass opening from the 3 of the 4 facades allows the visual relation between the buildings. However , those openings don't let the sight seeing of the interior activity from the centre of the square, keeping the privacy of the ballet an theatral companies.
All this was planned to host the art companies activities leting to have the privacy needed meanwhile allowing th citizens know about the internal activities of the two companies. About the inside, it has a big diaphanous studio on the main floor with its respective warehouse, and three little multiporpouse rooms located at the towers.
Due to the imagination of the architects Vylder Vinck Tailleu and their original designs, the two buildings allow to have the privacy needed but also, to have relation with the city, at the same time they perfectly separe the outside form the inside to bring a more confortable sensation on the inside by using different treatments.
+ Links
http://www.architectendvvt.com/projects
https://archello.com/project/les-ballets-c-de-la-b-and-lod
https://architizer.com/projects/les-ballets-c-de-la-b-and-lod/