Laureate: Atelier Horizon, VELD

Laureate: temporary association Atelier Horizon, VELD with subcontractors Orientes and ARA

The study and design assignment for a master plan for the Buda Island tip in Kortrijk was awarded to the temporary association Atelier Horizon (landscape and urban planning), VELD (architecture and urban planning) with subcontractors Orientes (real estate and management) and ARA (studio for spatial advice).

The assignment concerns the western tip of the Buda Island. The site is over 2 hectares in size and owned by OCMW Kortrijk. The release of buildings creates an excellent opportunity to transform the entire area into a unique and vibrant place, where the various programs and public spaces strengthen each other, but also the cultural dynamics on the Buda Island and in the rest of the city.

The proposal of the temporary association Atelier Horizon, VELD starts from a broad analysis of existing and possible connections between urban (cultural) places. In this way, a number of interesting urban axes are identified as carriers of historical and future developments, which bring the tip into relation with, among others, the station environment, the music center Track, the Flax Museum Texture and with Overleie. However, the design team does not ignore some of the important and distinctive qualities of Buda Island, and seeks ways to embed them in the new master plan. 'How can small scale be guaranteed within the urban ambitions? How can the intimacy of the secondary network of hidden gardens and squares be counterbalanced?' With the proposal the designers succeed in striking a fine balance between these urban axes as a spatial framework and a secondary network of hidden open spaces, which soften and offer breathing space.

At the project level, a clear urban design figure is used as a basis for further work based on these principles. The urban axes and lines of movement, such as the historical connection along the 'forecourt' of the Augustinian monastery from Budastraat, take shape in different ways. The strategic building field along the Leie, at the level of the Reep bridge, will have a withdrawn and compact construction. From these building forms an intelligent development strategy arises, spatially linked to three open spaces: a square, a courtyard and a garden, which define clear and manageable spatial sub-projects. The logic of building forms is cleverly translated into different forms of commissioning and the corresponding legal constructions. The master plan with its building forms also responds to the various scale levels present (monastery vs. Reepkaai) and refers to various height registers in the vicinity: the height of the monastery garden wall, the ridge height of the monastery and the cornice heights of various buildings, to match the scale of the library building and the building block on the Reepkaai, among others.

The open space structures are used as connectors, as a basis for the framework and are resolutely oriented towards the Leieboorden, with an extension of the city park on the tip as the primary public space. The choice to organize the public space in a bundled way, together with the space of the river, adds an attractive and contrasting dimension to the city.