Architects create container offices in Belgium. One is in the center of Westouter and the other in a rural area surrounded by nature.
| Floor plans |
| About TOOP architectuur |
Architects: TOOP architectuur
Containers: 1 x 40 ft
Area: 36 m²
Year: 2019
Location: Westouter, Belgium
Photographs: Tim Van De Velde
The architecture studio TOOP Architectuur needed two new offices in Westouter, Belgium. One in the city center and the other on a rural site close to the mountains of the region.
In the search for an economical work, TOOP professionals chose to invest in shipping containers. The two structures, while maintaining a visual identity for the offices, preserve unique characteristics designed for the place where they were installed.
The first was designed for the city center and has a huge sliding window that reflects and enlarges the garden around it. While the second office in shipping container is covered with mirrored aluminum panels with the intention of disappearing into the landscape.
The two spaces are called 'architectural laboratories' and form the intellectual heart of the office. There, visitors and staff can work together and be inspired by the materials, the surroundings and each other.
The common element that joins the two offices is the interior design that works for both the city environment and the rural area. Covered with low-cost red plywood, which appears as a building material and not as a visual element, architects show visitors the possibility of doing interesting things with accessible materials.
Floor plans
About TOOP architectuur
VISION
Designing on a human scale, to add experience, based on the environment.
We design architecture on the scale of its users. This means that we try to create spaces that people feel good about. We mainly want to add experience. We also graft our buildings on their surroundings. Just like a biotope, a building has an "architope".
Each project is preceded by extensive research that focuses on the scale of the environment, the shape of the building, the organization, the materiality, down to the smallest architectural detail. A collaboration with the client is created in which we question his wishes and look for the characteristics of the place in order to arrive at an all-encompassing architectural simple answer. In this way, every project gets or retains an individuality and identity.
By having an office in an urban context on the one hand and in a landscape environment on the other, this forces us to offer other architectural answers or to add social layers in the projects. But above all, this strengthens the architectural vocabulary, which contributes to the fact that certain architectural solutions can provide a surprising experience in a different context.
AWARDS / PUBLICATIONS
2020Archdaily, Dezeen, Designboom, Architectural Digest, COTOOP offices
ATV Wonen, WISTIK library and nursery
Belgian Building Awards: Build 2 Work: Nomination
Belgian Building Awards: Rookie of the year: Nomination
I'm going to build and renovate, no 428, p. 196 & 204, project COTOOP + project WISTIK
Innovate.in.architecture 10 Wienerberger, p. 60-63, project WISTIK
2019Archdaily.com, WISTIK Library and Kindergarten
Selection list of promising designers by Ghent city architect
Shop Design Awards: laureate 2nd place project TRACEY JONES category Fashion store
Shop Design Awards: laureate 2nd place project JEAN category Food store
I'm going to build and renovate, no 417, p. 12-13, architect portrait TOOP
2018 Bitubel Awards: Winner public price category Private home
Bitubel Awards: Honorable mention professional jury category Private home
Belgian Building Awards: Rookie of the year: Nomination
Tendency TV, CASWES house, symbiosis with the environment
Renoscripto, No. 94, p. 119, TRACEY JONES: shop as an experience space
Architectura.be, From dilapidated house to hip fashion boutique
Architectura.be, Compact and creative BEN home in Waasmunster
La Libre, Immo essentielle, no. 155, p. 4-9, La bonne échelle
2017 Renoscripto, No. 88, p. 46-49. Dining in a pleasant, renovated setting
Dezeen.com, TOOP Architecture arrangements timber and concrete house
Archdaily.com, CASWES house
Divisare.com, TOOP architecture
2016Venuez Hospitality Awards Belgium 2016, Best Design, Nomination
New Places To Be, 2016 edition, p. 83. Vinke
Venuez, No. 35, p. 83-87, restaurant Vinke
Architectura.be, TOOP architecture turns old building into a classy restaurant
TEAM
Jens Theuwen (architect business manager)
Laurent Temmerman (architect business manager)
Tjørven Rappelet
Aleksandra Bem
| info@toop.be | |
| Website | https://www.toop.be/ |
Laurent Temmerman
| |
| Address | Poststraat 91, 9160 Lokeren, Belgium |
| Phone | 0478/60 81 11 |
| laurent@toop.be | |
Jens Theuwen
| |
| Address | Casselstraat 9, 8954 Westouter, Belgium |
| Phone | 0474/29 15 61 |
| jens@toop.be | |
Architecture Studio Office in 40 ft Shipping Container Covered with Mirrored Aluminum Panels, Belgium