Spektrum

In Rumelange, a small post-industrial city in southern Luxembourg, the historic Hames estate—once home and atelier of sculptor Albert Hames—has been reactivated as a hybrid cultural site. A new concrete volume, built from locally sourced limestone cement, extends the ensemble westward toward the valley, linking heritage and contemporary creation. Between old and new, a cantilevered terrace connects without touching. Raw, unpolished, and flexible, the architecture invites use, dialogue, and evolving forms of artistic production and the larger public.

The project confronted three main challenges: an urgent timeline of 12 months, the fragile condition of a protected heritage site, and the need to define a new cultural role for a small post-industrial city. Rather than freezing the ensemble as a museum, the strategy was to extend its logic of transformation; from farm barn to atelier to platform for creation. Architecture became an instrument of continuity. A new volume mirrors the scale of the original house but shifts orientation to frame the landscape and integrate accessibility, technical systems, and public circulation. Constructed in exposed concrete from locally produced limestone cement, it expresses honesty and economy. Between old and new, a cantilevered terrace connects without contact, symbolising dialogue across time. The result is a modest yet catalytic project: preserving memory while enabling new uses, and reactivating Rumelange’s cultural identity through architecture.

The new building is constructed in exposed reinforced concrete made from locally produced cement derived from limestone extracted in Rumelange’s valley, grounding the project in its geological and cultural context while minimizing transport and cost. Structure and finish are unified—no cladding, no suspended ceilings—reducing maintenance and emphasizing constructive honesty. To the north, a wintergarden structure of lightweight European pine is clad in translucent polycarbonate, filtering soft northern light, buffering temperature, and linking old and new through a luminous, adaptable space. The main extension is clad in rough corrugated aluminum panels, a deliberate echo of the artist’s original self-built annex, once covered in the same material—a subtle continuity between improvisation and precision. The building’s compact footprint, high thermal inertia, and use of durable, low-maintenance materials ensure long-term sustainability, expressing environmental responsibility through local sourcing, economy, and permanence.