Noeveren, a Palimpsestic Hamlet

When a heritage landscape reveals itself as a complexity of narratives, it can be a delicate task to interfere. The aim of this project is to curate a palimpsestic design inside pathological heritage. One that inspires future others to rewrite, because it is within this transformative continuity that the existence of heritage is assured.

INTRODUCING A SPECTRUM OF HERITAGE STRATEGIES The first step in curating site Lauwers is deciding on what treatments (or lack of) will be implemented on each building. A diversity of treatments on the different entities (going from ruination to re-adaption) will more likely lead to a more diverse use and make the building more resilient in the future.\nHERITAGE AS GENERATOR OF NEW NARRATIVES Inside the main building, new activities will be introduced to attract new and existing protagonists to the site: a bakery, housing units, communal gardens, atelier spaces and a communal hall. The site reclaims its significance in the daily life of inhabitants.\nIMPLEMENTING A LAYERING IN TEXTURES The building will become a patchwork of old bricks, new ones and occasionally a perforated masonry using recycled bricks. Nature will be welcomed inside.\nSOCIAL PERMEABILITY The masterplan expresses the overall permeability of the building, where the protagonists are free to deviate from their usual path and spontaneous encounters occur. The ground floor is mainly collective space. Between the houses and around the patio’s, little alleys and interspaces arise. However, appropriation by the inhabitants (in the communal garden and small alleys…) and spatial depth create social invisible boundaries. This social permeability is a phenomenon so inherently part of Noeveren.\nAPPROPRIATING THE COLLECTIVE SPACE In Noeveren, the collective space has over time been appropriated by the inhabitants. When you, as an architect, create an architectural framework, users can write their own narrative. This achieved ownership is a key driver to successfully integrate heritage. \nThe end result of my design proposal will be a work in progress, where new narratives are welcomed, a selection of past narratives are fixed, and present narratives can land.