Kanal by noAarchitecten, EM2N and Sergison Bates architects

The proposal for Kanal reflects on the position of the twenty-first century museum in society. The former Citroën garage is the starting point. The building is located in the heart of the Plan Canal, the area where new developments focus on a contemporary mix of housing, working, leisure and production spaces– the activity that is historically linked to the canal area. Five Big Ideas:

1. The showroom as symbol
Our proposal celebrates its icon – the former Citroën showroom, by opening it up and inviting the city in. We remove additions and elements hidden under layers of paint and restore transparency, a celebration of light and city life. This will be one of the main entrances into a grand public interior ready to receive curated art works and experiences but also attractive as just a public space – a stage for Brussels. On its roof, a panoramic terrace.

2. Extending horizontality
Behind the showroom we find the less known workshop, an enormous space along the canal. It has the feel of a workplace, a vast factory which was always filled with the sounds of production. The floors, ramps and glass roofs define the hierarchy of the space. Windows wrap around it and offer views of the city. The frieze that emphasises this movement will be activated and extended. The uninteresting office block will be demolished and replaced by an extension of the workshop.

3. A strong public figure
By activating the underlying logic of the existing internal cross routes, the building becomes openly accessible to the public on all levels, offering many possible ways of connecting museum spaces, library and reading rooms, auditoria, workshops, restaurants, educational rooms. Existing ramps and bridges offer spaces for impromptu activities, displays of sitespecific art and views of the building, the canal and the city.

4. Three new volumes
Three new volumes are inserted into the existing space. They will hold the most sensitive part of the programme for the new building, the rooms that need precise climate conditions: museum spaces, an architecture archive, a large auditorium. We consider Kaai as the fourth, existing volume. The proposal reinforces spatial connections between Kanal and Kaai at the public entrance level, through the mutual use of space for performances and facilities for artists in residence. It is a space that is easy to understand, with a beautiful roof made from an assembly of individual metal elements. We will celebrate this roofscape with a painterly addition of colour.

5. Production
All those interested in the production of art, whether material or immaterial, performance based or object related will be invited to appropriate the open spaces within the building. Bringing production back to the building is the central idea that has informed and defined our strategy from the very start. We love the way the marks of the past coexist with the present and enrich the future. Let us not mistake the nature of this project: we are not talking about a Museum for Brussels. Kanal is much more than that. We call it A Stage for Brussels – with a large Art Museum and an Architecture Centre at its heart. We want the building to be a tribute to the public and a celebration of life in the city.

Atelier Kanal – An invitation for an ongoing dialogue
We invited a number of critical friends: the director of the architecture museum in Frankfurt, a set designer and theatre director from Berlin, a curator who knows the Belgian art world and has strong opinions on how art and society interact, and many more. We visited many others here in Brussels to learn from those who work in the city with patience and dedication, and who know what works and what doesn’t: the director of an art institution, local artists, cultural associations in Molenbeek, people who work in schools, people who participated in exchange programs with other museums in the world, youth workers.

And there are many more we want to talk to in the coming weeks, and months, and years. Their voices have fed our imagination and have shaped the place we imagine: Atelier Kanal is where we will be working from in the coming years. A floor in the showroom, with views of the workshop will allow us to continue our conversations with all stakeholders: administrators, art institutions, local organisations, local residents, experts from international cultural institutions, the general public. The process will be ongoing and we are open and receptive to the insights that will emerge from these exchanges. Source by noAarchitecten, EM2N and Sergison Bates architects.

• Location: 3 – 7 Quai de Willebroeck, B-1000 Brussels, Belgium
• Architect: noAarchitecten
• Partners: Philippe Viérin, An Fonteyne, Jitse van den Berg
• Project leader: Francesco Apostoli
• Project Team: Serafina Eipert, Damiano Finetti, Sunayana Jain, Evelien Pletinckx, Elke Schoonen, Simon Stroo, Jonathan Teuns, Nathan Wouters
• Architect: EM2N
• Partners: Mathias Müller, Daniel Niggli
• Project leader: Fabian Hörmann (Associate), Baptiste Blot
• Project Team: Béatrice Bruneaux, Konrad Scheffer, Andrea Zandalasini, Jonas Rindlisbacher (model making), Jennifer Bottlang (model making)
• Architect: Sergison Bates architects
• Partners: Stephen Bates, Jonathan Sergison, Mark Tuff
• Project leader: Stephen Bates
• Project Team: Jasper Caenepeel, Kirsten Gabriëls, Estelle Jakubowski, Marije Rutten
• Civil engineer, building services: Buro Happold Ltd, London
• Building physics, acoustics: Kahle Acoustics, Brussels
• Art: Benoît van Innis
• Health & Safety: BOPRO nv, Mechelen
• Light consultant: Joost de Beij, Zaltbommel
• Media architecture: iart ag, Basel
• Visualizations: Ponnie, Aachen; EM2N, Zurich
• Consultants, competition phase: Peter Cachola Schmal, Director of the Deutsches Architekturmuseum Frankfurt, Ian Cartlidge, graphic designer, Anne Pontégnie, curator, Anna Viebrock, stage designer
• Project partners: Le Centre Pompidou, Paris, Le Centre International pour la Ville, l’Architecture et le Paysage (Fondation CIVA), Brussels
• Space program: museum, archives, library, restaurants, retail, parking, storage
• Client: Gouvernement de la Région de Bruxelles-Capitale
• Type of commission: Competition, 1st prize
• Total net area: 39,100 square metres
• Year: 2018
• Images: Courtesy of noAarchitecten