Page 55 - THE FIRE STATION
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« Alors, la pluie s’est arrêtée de sangloter
et le petit terril s’est paré d’un sourire de timidité
sous les caresses chaudes d’un soleil amoureux aux joues pourpres. »
Bernard Dupuis, Les souriants, Bressoux, Dricot, 1994
SITE STUDY
The site This location plays a determining role in the project’s configuration
The site chosen by the City of Charleroi for its new fire station and architecture, highlighting the significance of the location.
is characteristic of this former coal-mining region. It is a case of 1 + 1 equalling 1, much more than just two neigh-
bouring features.
A slag heap, what Le Corbusier mistook for a pyramid on his first
trip to northern France, is nothing but a pile of ‘colliery spoil’, the The right place to gain a full overview of the project is from the
solid residual material resulting from the mining of coal. top of the slag heap.
Artificial mountains, slag heaps have fundamentally changed Locating the fire station here makes the “fifth facade” – the roof
and shaped the landscape, monuments to an industrial past. – the building’s main facade and home to a whole range of activi-
ties (vegetable gardens, a running track, lawns, the restaurant). It
From black gold to green gold also ties the firemen to their city (via the panoramic views of the
Now abandoned, slag heaps attract specific flora reflecting how city) and the city to the firemen (via the training tower visible from
long they have existed.The oldest ones contain more residual coal miles away).
than more recent ones and are thus subject to a certain amount of
internal combustion (dependent on their age) which has the effect From the roof, we look down onto the distinct road systems,
of raising the temperature of the surrounding land and thus creat- one for the public and one for the firemen.
ing a unique biotope.
The training tower, the characteristic feature of all fire stations,
The slag heap (Fr.: terril) in question here is known as the “Terril marks the site used by today’s heroes, like the crosses of former
des Hiercheuses” or the “Terril de laTombe”. times that paid tribute to dead miners, sometimes buried alive in
collapsed shafts and tunnels.
The “hiercheuses” (often depicted by the painter Cécile Douard,
1866-1941) or “rachaneuses” were miners’ wives or widows who A new iconic landmark, the Hiercheuses slag-heap fire station, now
picked through the slag in search of bits of coal or wood as addi- resonates in the heart of Charleroi, side by side with the Belfry, the
tional fuel for heating their humble homes. Basilica and the police headquarters, urban landmarks making the
city so special.
Now green, these slag heaps have become venues for nature-lov-
ers, walkers, mountain-bikers and industrial archaeologists, as well The site and the surrounding infrastructure
as for cultural events (the Panorama festival, Vecteur concerts, etc.). Close to the A3 motorway (Ring 3), the fire station’s location allows
quick access to its target territory.
Part of the region’s industrial heritage, the slag heaps feature
strongly in the region’s collective imagination, evoking a “heroic” This ease of access is mirrored in the building’s internal layout
past and a present full of poetic dreams. which similarly allows its occupants to move quickly and fluidly
from A to B, like a machine in constant motion.
Situating the new fire station there gives it a distinctive atmos-
phere, a ‘Genius Loci’, with the slag heap and fire station today
forming an inseparable entity.
