Marieke Hermans

Over the years, the former mining village of Zwartberg in Genk has undergone profound changes. Once defined by its mines, strong identity, and close-knit community, almost all industrial buildings have vanished. Only one structure remains: the former repair shed, once used to service coal wagons directly linked to the railways that carried them to the slag heaps of Zwartberg. Hidden today among newer developments, the shed still bears traces of its past through its construction and the railway tracks beneath the floor.

The project proposes to transform the shed into the ‘Maakloods’, a place where crafts such as ceramics, textiles, blacksmithing, and woodworking can be practiced and taught. These functions build on the technical character of the original workshop and aim to reestablish a social and educational anchor point within the neighborhood.

Two new volumes in locally sourced unfired earth brick, called the machine rooms, are inserted into the existing structure. They house technical systems, connect the program to the building’s environmental concept, and symbolically reference the twin shafts of the mines, once essential for ventilation, temperature control, and underground safety. One functions as a windcatcher that works with a ground heat exchanger to provide natural ventilation in summer. The other recovers waste heat from the ceramic kilns in winter to warm the building.

Design interventions reveal traces of history: reopening bricked-up round windows, reusing old railway lines as pathways with movable pavilions recalling coal wagons, and exposing the steel structure as the project’s backbone. Flexible studios, together with bridges and textile partitions, ensure adaptability. The building is read as a palimpsest, revealing layers, reusing what remains, and reconnecting the present with its history.

The ‘Maakloods’ becomes a place where skills are shared, generations meet, and collective memory is anchored, reconnecting the community with its past and future.

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