Thomas Costa
O.S.A.E. Project. ULiège (Belgium)
OSAE: Observatory of Science, Arts and Education. Osa,osae which in Latin is translated by an element that comes to envelop another.
The site is special for its heritage on the one hand, and for its location on the other. Indeed, it’s located in a private park where public programmatics is in complete opposition. The location chosen for the project is therefore between the part of the observatory built during the 1960s and the blind gable house at the end of the site. Volumetrically, when we see a change in height, there is also a change in direction. The project stays in that same language. It thus rises and attacks the existing building, while maintaining the permeability of the site. Our extensions extend the building from its structural grid.
At the programmatic level, it calls for the promotion of Arts and Science. We intend to bring together the head office with a place of discovery class for the collective: L’embarcadère du savoir whose purpose is to promote and enhance the scientific and technical culture in relation to the University of Liège. Secondly, we are renovating the classified part of the observatory for the Astronomical Society. The goal is to regain the recognition they had before. Eventually, we propose to create housing for artists in residence with workspaces linked to multipurpose and permanent exhibition spaces.
Following a contemporary review of the materials present on the site, we put in place a wooden structure allowing an exterior and interior calepinage. The goal is to reinterpret the oxidized copper already present on the domes of the site and surrounding areas. In the existing part composed of a concrete structure, we will isolate it from the inside. As for our extensions, they are articulated to the existing one by furniture and finishes in light wood.
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