The Panquin site is situated in a unique location on both sides of the park wall in the village of Tervuren. Historically, this wall was mostly designed from inside the park. The décor was more important than the connection to the village. With this in consideration, Tervuren took the initiative to redraw this border and establish a new relationship. With our proposal for this competition, Studio Farris Architects intervened to further develop the identity of this place through its architectural fabric.
In our view the only way a redrawn park border can succeed, is when the historic identity of that border isn’t forgotten. A transformation in continuity is the goal.
The current localization of the wall stresses the characters of unique places, within and outside of the project site: Orangery garden, ‘housing field’, the horseshoe balcony, the zone of the administrative centre, etc. These characteristic features are approached and developed individually, depending on their specific location, to reinforce their identity.
The park wall becomes the spine of the project, because it guarantees the conservation of the unique places. It decides -today but also tomorrow- what is part of the park, and what is part of the village. Without the wall, the heritage becomes unreadable.
The renewal of the topography has the goal to reconnect what was secluded. This renewal spreads from the two gardens, the Orangery garden and the “housing field”. These two gardens incline towards each other and meet in the middle. At the wall, the village meets the park creating an opportunity for a green break that makes the new connection. In addition, two parking lots can be built into the inclinations of the gardens.
The Orangery garden forms the new location for “living in the park” and provides a unique living quality. The housing follows the grid of the Orangery garden, and green terraces arise. In the “Housing field”, along the wall, we implement “village living”. The new housing breaks the alignment which exposes more space for greenery, while emphasis is put on the position of the wall as the border of the village. Aside from the new volumes, we also organize housing in the old. The existing heritage stays as is, which preserves the patrimony. The monument decides the program. Therefore, we propose a new complementary museum across from the museum planned by the city council. This brings the public part of the project closer to the village. The horseshoe becomes a more serene place for temporary and alternative living. The Orangery gets restored to its original state. At the rear of the orangery we implement extra volumes: a hotel volume, museum volume, and an Orangery volume. Each of these volumes houses alternative ways of living.