OFFICE 231

The Destelheide youth retreat centre was designed by the Belgian modernist architect Paul Felix in the late 1960s, as an array of several buildings along a green slope. The competition project called for a capacity upgrade by adding a new dormitory and a residential pavilion to the complex. The dormitory is made of two cubic volumes that are connected at the corner and complete the linear arrangement of the existing buildings. A triangular canopy marks the entrance at the junction of the two volumes. The plan is composed of alternating strips of rooms and servant spaces that include stairs, toilets and storage. The rooms, which are identical in size, either serve as bedrooms, or common spaces that enable access to the bedrooms, instead of long corridors. The residential pavilion, on the other hand, is detached and positioned on the slope. This is a similar cubic volume, but with a slightly different plan organisation: communal areas occupy the ground floor, there is a public roof terrace, and the rooms are en suite. As a nod to the uniform materiality of the existing buildings, the new buildings also have a single material, but this time solid wood was used instead of concrete.