During the hightime of the industrial age, Terhagen was played a crutial part in supplying Europe with fired bricks. This bygone time leaves a mark in the region in the form of vast abandones clay pits. This project offers a redevelopment plan in the form of a post-industrial landscape park, reflecting on the past and the future of the regiona and the production of building materials in general.
research about the brick production shaping the village
The Past: The landscape is heavily shaped by the extractive history of brick production. Some of the former claypits are flooded, many are overgrown by pioneer forest. But the layers of the past are also visible in the village itself and sourounding infrastructure. The landscape of Terhagen bears wittnes, that the flourishing port cities like Antwerpen and Ghent with their abundant brick work, did't come out of thin air but left a mirror image of themselves imprinted onto the landscapes of Beglium.
spatial analisys of the claypits
proposed interventions focused on regenrative materials
The Future: The destructive past offers the possibility for a different future for construction materials, such as strawbales, timber and even unfired bricks. This landscape part champions this non-extractive approach by offering space for education and even production of such methods. Agricultural fields, whose leftovers are turned into construction-ready strawbales; Well-managed forests for constructon timber; And even partial clay extraction for the production of unfired bricks, eliminating the energy intensive firering process. The materials and their production process open up the possibility of a renewable and non-extractive construciton sector.
site plan
sheds section
watchtower section
The project includes three follies: 1. The watchtower. The tower reaches beyond the canopies of the trees. It offers a view of the landscape park. 2. The Shed. These constructions are made to be easliy assembled and dissemled. They offer space for building and repairing the other follies. 3. The club- house. This off-grid-cabin can house events and seminars sourrounding the project.
All construction follow a similiar design: A timber truss as load-carrying structure and then a combi- nation of clay and/or straw-based building materials fill out the form.
available materials
renovation strategy
In a final step, this project tries to expand its logic into the the village of Terhagen and offers a solution to the long overdue renovation of some of the building stock. The landscape park can provide the necessary building materials, such as timber, strawbales and unfired clay, keeping the construttion costs down and reversing the long established logic of relying on externalising the production process of the building materials and their social impact.
detailed section