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Halleluia

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City, Country Halle, Belgium
Year since 2021
Client Stichting Vicariaat VLBM
Architect FrancoisChapelle
Services Structural Engineering
Facts Total area: 900 m²

Two houses on the Grote Markt in Halle will be converted into a refuge for pilgrims. The sanctuary will house a library, a place to eat, sleep, pray and rest. Vaulted ceilings enclose intimate spaces for each of these functions and provide a calming spatial experience. The vaulted ceiling smoothly transitions into an arcade that encloses a lush courtyard garden.

The project is very considerate of its context. The organic shape language and stony materiality of the vaults refer to the adjacent basilica. Moreover, the cityscape dotted with narrow shopfronts is preserved by renovating the authentic parts of the existing buildings.

The organic form language creates an interplay of architecture and structure: the curved shell surfaces of the ceilings offer a lot of structural height in addition to their aesthetic qualities. The shape of the shells was optimised with form finding to make optimal use of this property.

Structural Engineering
Building Retrofit
Extension
Residential