Termuntberg

Pilot project with fully demountable building structure

The design envisions the infrastructure for a football club and a youth centre, with possibilities for polyvalent uses. It is a pilot project for circular economy in the construction sector.

The Termuntberg is situated in a forested zone in walking distance from the Centre of the Commune Tervuren. It is the home of football club "KV Tervuren" and the future home of youth centre "Tram44". There is a certain folklore in the architectural typology of Belgian football canteens - every Belgian knows these. The prefab construction system for this typology includes concrete panels locking into grooved concrete columns, with corrugated iron sheets as a roof. This was the trusted setting for supporters and visitors, for bingo-nights and community parties, for NGO-gatherings and even marriage celebrations.

Our approach is hence to respect this folklore of multi-usable simple community infrastructure, but with a strong update with regards to materials and construction system. In this way the architectural typology of "football canteen" becomes an ecological, multi-useable and circular community centre ready for the future.

Given the focus of the commune of Tervuren on circular economy, we consider this project as a pilot project for Flanders with regards to materials lifecycle analysis and demountable construction. The building is conceived as 100% circular, meaning that each construction part or element can be demounted and reused without the production of waste. The architectural appearance hence does not come forth from the architect as designer, but from the consequent use of circular and long-term construction logic. A low and rhythmic horizontal prism volume interacts with the verticality of tree trunks. The proportions respectfully points to the place of man in nature.