OFFICE 152

A building set in an industrial area on the outskirts of Waregem provides rentable working spaces for young start-ups. Both the position and the detailing of a standard industrial shed are used to express a common character within an allotment of private developments. The roof of the elongated volume slopes from 10m on the building’s north side to a 5m loading bay along the recessed south facade. A continuous greenhouse glass system runs across the top half of the volume’s north facade. The geometry of this section allows for an elevated platform containing additional office space above the kitchen and toilet blocks. The rectangular plan is flanked by a triangular meeting room, creating a trapezoidal figure that distorts the regular geometry and perspective. The entire structure is clad in polished corrugated aluminium panels, while the front facade features 5m sliding gates made of plain aluminium. I-beams above the gates serve both as fire-resistant barriers and as flags that mark, with different colours, the divisions between the four units. The same elements are repeated in the back, although there they do not support the cantilevered roof but merely conceal the gutters.