Christophe Sechehaye & Olivier Wallerand

First of all, the project was an urbanistic study of the city (Cheratte). The aim was to imagine a rebirth of the city while retaining the historical past of Cheratte.

Cheratte is located between the three main cities of the Euregion (Aachen – Maastricht – Liège).

Moreover, the proximity of the motorway, the old patrimony and a huge free area make of Cheratte an exceptional place.

Why should there be a Euregional Centre of Energy Discovery in Cheratte ?

The world is changing. New forms of energy are appearing and others are disappearing. The Centre intends to give a didactic answer by presenting a survey of all these developments.

The centre of the project is the footbridge which becomes with the silo a link between all the old and new buildings.

In the south : the colliery is playing with the past and the new architecture. There are different levels with different subjects (former sources of energy, how can these energies change our lives ?). There’s also a conference area, a restaurant, and some office for the personnel centre.

In the north, the new energy centre is located with three different wings (an adolescent wing, renewable energy wing and utopic wing). Here we can also find a media library, a cafetaria and a green area with trees and plants, which result in a good hygrometry and a pleasant temperature to the centre (bioclimatic system).

Finally, next to this centre, a rectangular office building with the main entrance by the footbridge to the centre.

We also reflected on the social contact problem within a new public area : the new energy centre, a few shopkeepers, bioclimatic flat, a station, the entrance and office building some space for the Cheratte citizens and of course with the old colliery.

---

SCHUNCK cannot guarantee the correctness of content and expression. The participants themselves are responsible for their entries. The copyright of the projects underlies to the authors, any reproduction or use of the shown material is strictly forbidden.