FLORALIES

Renovation and restoration of the International Congres Center and the Floralies Hall in the Citadel Park in Ghent.

Team ︎︎︎ ALTSTADT in collaboration with 51N4E & Nu architectuuratelier,  Plantenhoutgoed
Advisors ︎︎︎Bollinger + Grohmann (stability), Kahle (HVAC), TTAS
Client ︎︎︎ ICC Gent
Year ︎︎︎ 2019 - ...
Status ︎︎︎  Competition, 1st prize
Phase ︎︎︎ Masterplan
Budget ︎︎︎ 40,500,000 €

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In this ambitious Open Call, the Citadel Park is put on the map as a new pole in the city. The Floralies Hall plays a crucial role in this as a dynamic and cross-pollinating space between surrounding public players, the ICC, the Kuipke, the Smak and the Casino. With the programming of the casino as the local Hub, the surrounding area gets its foot in the park between the major public players the Smack, the Kuipke and the ICC.

The Floralienhal will be a covered green space in the extension of the park. The ICC will be reorganised and expanded. The Floralienhal will be restored and furnished as a public space.

As part of the masterplan being drawn up for the Floralies Hall, the history of the buildings cluster in the Citadel Park will be mapped out. The Floralies Hall was the large distribution hall for the 1918 World Fair in Ghent. It was intended to be dismantled after the exhibition and rebuilt as a trainstation in Kinshasa. This plan would not go ahead and the hall then had a turbulent building history on site. The study goes in search of the original design and forms a vision for the future.