冬季马戏团 Mahy 根特
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一个隐藏的世界
从一开始，经过动荡的历史，根特的冬季马戏团始终是一个真实的马戏团与一系列服务建筑的复合体，这些建筑完全融入了瓦尔斯克鲁克社区附近城市街区的建筑中。第一个马戏团由建筑师埃米尔·德·维尔特设计，建于1894年，位于一座于1920年被火灾摧毁的棉花厂遗址上，已经遵循了这一逻辑。第二个马戏团由朱尔·帕斯卡尔·勒杜设计，于1923年开幕，除了马戏表演外，还提供电影和音乐活动，凭借如拉梅尔街的主入口等元素，使马戏团在城市中更加扎根。实际的马戏团建筑旁边有一个马圈，用于训练马匹，还有一个马厩，用于容纳大象和其他动物，包括一个从靠近水边的普拉特贝格的独立物流通道。这个“新马戏团”于1944年关闭。
三年后，汽车经销商和经典汽车热爱者吉斯兰·马希在1939年已在此开设了一家菲亚特车库后，购买了这一建筑综合体。在1950年代，他开始对主马戏团建筑的周边进行重大扩建，包括在拉梅尔街上建造一个现代风格的展厅——这是外部现代主义建筑的唯一证据。
在这里买车不仅是一个务实的行为，更是一个小事件。顾客可以享受宽敞的中庭，去与马希公司直接相连的理发店，或在马希的加油站为他们的汽车加油。更令人瞩目的是：访客可以参观马希不断增长的经典汽车收藏，这将成为世界上最大的同类收藏。马希家族在1970年代关闭了车库，但经典汽车收藏在2000年前仍保留在建筑综合体的新扩展空间中。最终，这个收藏拥有惊人的950辆古董汽车和卡车。
隐形的现代主义
吉斯兰·马希对马戏团建筑综合体的改造在许多方面都令人印象深刻。他首先做出了激进的决定，拆除内部的木制看台，去掉了装饰性石膏和假天花板，将主圆形建筑简化为裸露的混凝土框架。结果，他揭示了一个巨大的中庭，这个空旷的空间将成为他活动的焦点。随后，他逐步在主建筑内部和外部添加坡道和新扩展，基本上是为了使所有楼层都能容纳他的汽车。由于城市中心复杂的环境以及与现有城市的复杂地形和连接，真正系统和清晰的方法是不可能的。相反，整个综合体变成了一种梅尔茨堡，乍一看是一个杂乱而又幻影般的拼贴，唤起了20世纪20年代德国达达艺术家库尔特·施维特斯的作品。马希在可能的地方进行了简单的扩展，总是产生意想不到的美感。实际上，他并没有过多关注最低高度、曲线半径或坡道的陡峭程度。他也没有非常认真对待法律问题，比如建筑许可证。事实上，他的一些项目在完成后才得以合法化。相反，他将所有精力集中在创造合理的连接上，以最好地服务于建筑中的所有活动。他以一种适合空间的情境主义方式使用这些空间，创造出丰富的视野和光线变化，迷人的小展位和柜台，以及窗户、基座和混凝土作品中的惊人而优雅的细节。尽管他不是专业建筑师，但他似乎仍然是一位有才华的设计师，内心深处是一位坚定的现代主义者。他对建筑的所有改造、扩展、空间和细节展现了对优雅、现代主义建筑的巨大热爱，这与巨大的中庭相结合，带来了几乎令人屏息的体验。
他那种无政府主义的扩建方式导致了疯狂的情况，例如地下与邻近建筑的边界在地下与上层不同，或者建筑的某些部分延伸到公共街道的领域。他解决了许多技术问题，例如整个综合体可能会滑入穆因克谢尔德河的危险，通过在一个战略性选择且隐蔽的地方用一个巨大的混凝土柱固定整个综合体。马希还保留了一些空间，尤其是位于下层的前马戏动物马厩。值得注意的是，即使在当前的翻新之后——在最后一只动物离开80年后——空间中仍弥漫着动物的气味。
马希的整个运营似乎反映了弗拉芒人的心态：现代与对小规模的偏爱并行不悖，毫无冲突。这似乎源于一种古老的工艺精神和对细节近乎迷信的热爱。而这一切都发生在一个完全与城市隔绝、隐藏在街区中的位置。进入旧马戏团建筑的人们在面对其意想不到的宏伟规模时，会感受到一种压倒性的空间惊喜。
新生
2000年，汽车收藏被迁移到其他地点，建筑被遗弃。因此，它逐渐失去使用，出现了多种问题，如屋顶和外立面的漏水、动物进入建筑或青少年的入侵。应根特市的委托，城市开发公司sogent于2005年购买了该建筑，计划在尊重其丰富遗产的同时进行翻新。sogent举行了一场竞赛，以寻找建筑师来改造该项目并为其准备新生，最终由Atelier Kempe Thill和aNNo建筑事务所于2012年获胜。计划中的项目包括一个可容纳500名观众的摇滚音乐厅、一个盲人图书馆、弗拉芒媒体档案VIAA和IT公司icubes。该建筑并没有实际的纪念地位，但它是城市环境保护街景的一部分。尽管如此，内部的改造仍需与文物保护委员会进行讨论和达成一致。
Atelier Kempe Thill + aNNo设计团队的四个特点
第一个主要设计特点涉及前马戏空间：这个空间巨大，具有公共广场的尺寸。实际上，它与罗马的万神殿有着相同的巨大尺寸。设计团队Atelier Kempe Thill提议保留该空间的原貌，保持完全空旷。它将作为一个灵活的公共空间，成为一个覆盖的广场，连接城市的三面和新图书馆建筑De Krook “由RCR / Coussée Goris Huyghe建筑师设计” 在普拉特贝格。这一概念赋予建筑其骨架、真实性、宽松的慷慨感，并在进入建筑时保留了发现其宏伟规模的感觉。
第二个主要特点涉及声学挑战的摇滚音乐厅。该音乐厅位于地下，直接位于圆形主马戏建筑内，采用混凝土结构以防止声音泄漏到邻近建筑，并将物流与建筑的其他部分完全隔离。
第三个主要特点涉及翻新后的装饰：决定保留未抹灰砖墙和大中庭空间的粗糙外观，尤其是在被遗弃的岁月中部分脱落的石膏，以及红色涂漆的混凝土地板。这个决定引入了一定的粗糙感和未完成的特征，保留了其历史发展的痕迹和一些衰败的痕迹。这种方法在很大程度上有助于完成项目的真实特征，创造了一致性，并引入了一种轻松而崇高的外观。同时，这也使得能够在低预算内完成。
第四个主要特点则是处理吉斯兰·马希的所有改建。建筑师应如何处理这种敏感的建筑，它代表着巨大的内在价值和质量？团队被这些元素的美和逻辑所吸引，决定以极大的谦逊和同理心进行设计，并在可能的情况下最大限度地尊重现有细节。
情境主义设计方法
为了尽可能严格地遵循这四个自我设定的指导方针，团队开发了一种特定的设计方法。所有必要的程序调整，以及与消防法规、声学等相关的所有改造，都是以对现有建筑的影响有限为目标，尽量保留其真实性。团队并没有寻求对比，而是试图理解和同情建筑中的和谐延续。幸运的是，尽管有严格的防火规定，现有的脆弱钢屋顶结构得以保留。团队能够在很大程度上保持主马戏建筑与周围所有扩展部分的连接。内立面没有热绝缘，尽管由于与邻近建筑复杂的连接，存在无法解决的热桥，但仍然可以保持原样。
A hidden world
From the very beginning, right through its turbulent history, the Wintercircus in Ghent has always been a composite of a real ring circus and a series of service buildings, all of which completely blend into the nearby buildings of an urban block in the Waalse Krook neighborhood. The first circus – conceived by architect Emile de Weerdt and built in 1894 on the site of a cotton factory that was destroyed by fire in 1920 – already followed this logic. The second circus – which was designed by Jules Pascal Ledoux, opened in 1923 and offered cinema and music events in addition to circus performances – anchored the circus even more firmly in the city thanks to elements such as the main entrance on Lammerstraat. Next to the actual circus building, there was a manège ring for exercising the horses and a stable to accommodate the elephants and other animals, including a separate logistics access from Platteberg close to the water. This “Nouveau Cirque” closed its doors in 1944.
Three years later, Ghislain Mahy, a car dealer and passionate collector of classic cars, bought the building complex after already having opened a Fiat garage there in 1939. In the 1950s, he began to transform and carry out major extensions along the periphery of the main ring circus building, including a showroom on Lammerstraat in a modern style – the only evidence of modernist architecture on the exterior.
Buying a car here was not only a pragmatic act but a minor event. Customers could enjoy the big atrium, go to the hairdresser that was directly adjoined to Mahy’s firm or fill up their car at Mahy’s gas station in the building. And what was even more remarkable: visitors could take a look at Mahy’s growing collection of classic cars that would become the world’s largest of its kind. The Mahy family closed the garage in the 1970s, but the classic car collection remained there until 2000 in newly extended spaces in the building complex. In the end, the collection had an amazing 950 vintage cars and trucks.
Invisible modernism
Ghislain Mahy's makeover of the circus building complex is impressive in many respects. He first made the radical decision to remove the wooden grandstand inside, with stucco ornamentation and a false ceiling, and reduce the main round building to its bare concrete framework. As a result, he unveiled a massive atrium, an empty space that would serve as the focal point of his activities. Afterwards, step by step, he added ramps and new extensions inside and outside the main volume, basically to make all of the floors accessible for his cars. Due to the complicated setting in the city center and the rather complex topography and connections to the existing city, a real systematic and clear approach was impossible. Instead, the entire complex became a kind of Merzbau, at first glance a messy and simultaneously phantasmic collage, evoking the works of German Dada Artist Kurt Schwitters in the 1920s. Mahy made simple extensions where possible, in such a way that it always resulted in unexpected beauty. Indeed, he didn’t pay much attention to minimum heights or the curve radius or the steepness of ramps. Nor did he take legal matters, such as building permits, very seriously either. In fact, some of his projects were only regularized after having been completed. Instead, he concentrated all his efforts on creating sensible connections that would best serve all of the activities in the building. He used the spaces in a situationist manner that befitted them, creating a rich variety of views and light situations, lovely small booths and counters, and surprising and elegant details in the windows, plinths and concrete works. Although not a professional architect, he still seems to have been a talented designer and a consistent modernist in heart. All of the transformations, extensions, spaces, and details he added to the building show an enormous love for building in an elegant, modernist way, which – together with the enormous atrium – results in a nearly breathtaking experience.
His anarchistic way of building extensions led to crazy situations, such as borders with neighboring buildings that are different in the basement than in the upper floors or the fact that parts of the building reach under the public domain of the street. He solved substantial technical problems, such as the danger that the entire complex would start to slide into the water of the Muinkschelde, by fixing the whole complex with a gigantic concrete pole at a strategically well-chosen and hidden place.Some of the spaces also remained unused by Mahy, especially the former stables for the circus animals in the lower floors. Interestingly, even after the current renovation – 80 years after the last animals had left – the smell of animal still pervades the space.
Mahy’s entire operation seems to mirror the Flemish mentality: being modern goes hand in hand, without there being any conflict whatsoever, with a penchant for the small scale. This seems to originate from an age-old spirit of craftsmanship and a nearly fetishistic love for detail. And all of this takes place in a location completely closed off from the city, hidden in a block. Those entering the old circus building are treated to an overwhelming spatial surprise when confronted by its unexpected monumental scale.
A new life
In 2000, the car collection was moved to other locations and the building was abandoned. As a result, it fell into disuse and developed several problems, such as leaks in the roofs and façades, animals entering the building or intrusions by youngsters. Commissioned by the city of Ghent, the building was bought by the urban development company sogent in 2005 with the intention of renovating it while respecting its rich heritage. A competition was held by sogent to find an architect to transform the project and prepare it for a new life, which was won by Atelier Kempe Thill and aNNo architects in 2012. The intended program was a rock music hall for 500 spectators, a library for blind people, the Flemish archive for media VIAA, and the IT firm icubes. The building doesn’t have actual monumental status, but it is part of the protected streetscape of the urban environment. Still, the transformation of the interior needed to be discussed and agreed upon with the monument protection committee.
Four features by the Atelier Kempe Thill + aNNo design team
The first main design feature concerns the former circus space: this space is enormous and has the dimensions of a public square. In fact, it has the same huge dimensions of the Pantheon in Rome. Instead of filling it with a program or an additional built volume, the team at Atelier Kempe Thill proposed that it should be preserved as is and remain entirely empty. It will serve as a flexible public space, a kind of covered square for all kinds of activities connecting three sides of the city and the new library building De Krook from RCR / Coussée Goris Huyghe architecten on Platteberg. This concept gives the building its backbone, its authenticity, a relaxed generosity and preserves the sensation of discovering its monumental scale when entering the building.
The second main feature concerns the acoustically challenging rock concert hall. This is located in the underground, directly in the round main circus building in a concrete housing construction to prevent sound leakage to neighboring buildings and to completely separate the logistics from the rest of the building.
The third main feature concerns the finishing after the renovation: it was decided to keep the rough appearance of the unplastered brick walls and the big atrium space, where the plaster had partly fallen off during the years when it was abandoned, as well as the red painted concrete floors. This decision introduces a certain roughness and an unfinished character and leaves the patina of its historical development intact, as well as some of its decay. This approach largely contributes to the authentic character of the completed project, creates coherence and introduces a relaxed and sublime appearance. And it also makes it possible to stay within the low budget.
The fourth main feature has the crucial task of dealing with all of Ghislain Mahy adaptations. How should an architect approach this sensitive architecture, which represents great intrinsic value and quality? The team was mesmerized by the beauty and logic of these elements and decided to design with great modesty and empathy and, above all, respect the existing details to the greatest extent possible.
Situationist design approach
To adhere to these four self-imposed guidelines as strictly as possible, the team developed a specific design approach. All necessary programmatic adaptations, as well as all transformations related to fire regulations, acoustics and so on, were designed so they would have only a limited impact on the existing architecture and try to preserve its authenticity. The team didn’t look for contrast but rather sought to empathize and understand the harmonizing continuity in the architecture. Luckily, the existing fragile steel roof structure could be maintained, despite the strict fire resistance regulations. The team was able to largely keep open the connections of the main circus building with all of the extensions around it. The inner façades, which had no thermal insulation, could remain as is, despite the sheer unsolvable thermal bridges due to the complicated connections with the neighboring buildings.
As for Mahy’s playful added elements, such as the ramps and bay windows, all the spatial situations were carefully checked in relation to necessary changes and any conflict was avoided as much as possible. That’s why the concept is referred to as a “situational approach”, following the original intentions of Ghislain Mahy. After Atelier Kempe Thill and aNNo architects had worked out the design concept and the building permission, the city of Ghent selected architects BARO and SUMproject to further develop the concept design and follow up on the execution of the work.
Façades and materials
The outer façades inside the block are all treated with thermal insulation on plaster and painted in light grey. The elegant steel window frames are black. The window partition follows the pattern of the old partitions. These façades don’t necessarily act as the “face” of the buildings but are hidden in the back and meant to function more from the inside-out than the other way around.
The former showroom on Lammerstraat is one of the few real front façades and has been restored according to the original setup and all its refined details, especially the window frames. The entrance on Sint-Pietersnieuwstraat is closed with a transparent gate of fine steel bars. The authentic brick façade towards Platteberg has been retained, and the windows there also resemble the originals. The building’s entrance is on Platteberg and has as its roof the concrete vault.
The façade in the huge atrium space – which is actually the most important façade of the entire complex – closely adheres to the original in its openness and expressiveness. Thin black steel frames were used here as well for the windows in combination with the rawness of the brick walls and concrete beams and the patina of the partly fallen off stucco.
For the Atelier Kempe Thill + aNNo design team, the Wintercircus project is a good example of how to use a consistent approach in restoring a historic monument. In a situationist design, the approach is mainly about modesty and sensitivity, about protecting the great spatial and tacit qualities of the existing building and putting them to a fitting new use. The result is not so much a “polished” project as a method of preservation, where factors such as time and decay are part of a romantic reading of a building produced in a complicated historic process. In that way, this curated decay approach adheres to John Ruskin’s ideas of restoring historic buildings.
The Wintercircus’s rough nature dovetails with the rising contemporary taste for raw and unfinished places that’s especially popular in subcultures. This tendency may be seen as a subconscious desire to create an escape from ongoing domestication, the domination of the digital, and a flawlessly planned and tidy environment, and instead to resurrect and to celebrate the wild, the tactile, and the spontaneous.
CREDITS
Design team competition:
Team Atelier Kempe Thill: André Kempe, Oliver Thill, Marc van Bemmel with Charline Busson, Renzo Sgolacchia, Pauline Durand, Valérie Van de Velde, Andrius Raguotis
Team aNNo: Stijn Cools, Sofie de Ridder, Elisabeth Lehouck
Team Maatontwerpers: Filip Buyse
Media Space design:
Jangled Nerves: Thomas Hundt, Raimund Docmac, Gesina Geiger, Petra Stojanik
Design team concept phase + building permission:
Team Atelier Kempe Thill: Atelier Kempe Thill architects and planners, Rotterdam NL André Kempe, Oliver Thill, Karin Wolf with Nynke Bergstra, Jeroen de Waal, Cormac Murray, Pauline Durand, Nick Mols, Martins Duselis, Guillem Lopez, Andrius Raguotis
Team aNNo: Stijn Cools, Sophie de Ridder, Barbara Joseph, Kelly de Scheemaker, Nele Vancaeysele
Structural engineer: BAS Dirk Jaspaert
Final Design Team:
Baro Architectuur and SumProject: architectural design and follow up construction
VK Engineering: Engineering
No4Mad: Lighting design
Omgeving: Landscape architecture