A new school for the police, fire brigade, and DGH in the port area of Ghent, as an expansion of an existing but outdated training center. A new building on the site of the current fire hall, connected to the existing police wing, offers a solution and puts an end to the ongoing patchwork of aging structures. It gives the site a fresh identity.
A smart balance between the program intended for the existing police wing and the new building makes this feasible. The new building is designed to be as compact as possible, maximizing the surface area available for training grounds.
The design is not driven by form, but by function, by the choreography of daily use. It organizes itself in strips, each one is a band of activity, aligned with the logic of movement and terrain. These strips are not static, they breathe, they respond. Circulation cuts across them like a spine, binding the building’s anatomy with precision.
There is a vertical intelligence at play: the building is split into two levels, each with its own demand.
Above, beneath a roof that is not merely shelter but instrument, lie the spaces that require light and air—administration, classrooms, reception. The roof form is not decorative; it is a device for drawing in the sky.
Below, on the ground plane, the building roots itself in practice. Here, the body moves and the architecture recedes to let action take precedence.
This is not a monument. It is a building that listens, to its users, to its site, to the rhythms of training and rest. It is modest in footprint but generous in intent. It does not impose; it enables.