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It is interesting to note that while the authorities may put up large volumes of
office space around the station without including additional private housing, the
same does not apply to the area under consideration for private investors which is
subject to quite another rationale. If a mixture of functions is recommended, then
all the parties concerned should have planned for housing in their program for this
building axis. It would appear that housing in this area is only the concern of real
estate developers and not the authorities.
Can the defined building site conform to the theoretical intention put forward by the
urban project? Can a project consisting of one third housing be developed without
taking into account the noise nuisance levels caused by freight trains going past?
We dare to ask the question whether this strip near to the railway lines is suitable
for housing. Nuisances such as noise pollution and dust are certainly factors which
have to be considered when developing housing. It also appeared that real estate
developers showed only a slight interest in the relation of available space to housing
as proposed by the zoning plan.The question remains whether the 8,000 m2 of office
space provided in the programme for this site were not underestimated?
Because of the enormous amount of interest created by the authorities in the
areas around the station, it was almost foreseeable that a site of such importance
would require a much higher level of occupation. Compared to the situation in the
Netherlands, more specifically the area around the station of the provincial town
of Arnhem, a proposal for an 8,000 m2 office space is much too modest to attract
important investors.
The major drawback with respect to the KBC project designed by the temporary
partnership of Philippe Samyn and Partners and Archi+I (fig. 10, 11, 12) concerns the
building of office space and the elimination of housing and commerce in this area.14
On the other hand it is also clear that an urban project may give rise to proposals that
yield weak economic returns or that are not sufficiently adapted to specific needs
following situational changes.
Following an analysis of the project we have to agree that Philippe Samyn did
carefully analyse a good number of decisive elements pertaining to the site in order
to accurately position its building on this narrow strip. Philippe Samyn’s starting
point is a basic configuration conform the urban project. It provides a variation
in the sequence of buildings that are linked and purposely not free standing. It
strongly accentuates the boundary between the railway lines and the building
area. The plan consists of a sequence of eleven identical spans, opened up by
introducing atriums between the office buildings. In the town hall, Byrne opts for
horizontal window openings, the modernist type of window; Philippe Samyn’s
façade structure on the other hand, is determined by verticality.
The use of the bicycle is crucial in guaranteeing the viability of a historical town centre.
In the case of Leuven the station site is more than a thoroughfare, a meeting of railway
lines and bus routes; it is also a place of temporary shelter for thousands of bicycles.
The town asked for a space to accommodate 4,000 cycles, which corresponds to an
area of 6,000 m2. The solution goes far beyond a mere architectural approach, it is
a town planning choice in which quality and safety factors are paramount. Philippe
Samyn, together with the building commissioner, chose to house the cycles on a
single building level along the full length of the KBC project.