press release
CPFB

30.05.2024
press release CPFB
archipelago

CPFB Louvain-la-Neuve

Transforming a brutalist post office into a modern
learning centre

Location

Louvain-la-Neuve,
Belgium

ClientCPFB asbl

StatuscompletedSurface

800 sqm

Programrestoration, renovationand transformation offormer post office inLouvain-la-Neuve

ArchitectarchipelagoPartners

aaia, MATRIciel, Cosep,
CBDarchipelago

Originally the post office of Louvain-la-Neuve, the characteristicbuilding housed several teachnig courses for the university of Louvain
until its final occupation as a ‘school for sound’. Overcompartmentalized and acoustically insulated to meet recording
standards, the clarity of the architecture and the simplicity of its
materials were lost.

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Uncovering architecture
The first task was to dismantle the building in order to lay it bare:salvaging the concrete that could be salvaged, restoring the original
brickwork, preserving the joinery and frames.
The volumes are decompartmentalized both functionally and spatially.
The exceptional height of the roof and the interplay of the beams andlight falling through the glass bricks are recovered.
The aim of the renovation strategy is to restore the building to its
pristine condition, while providing it with the technology and thermal
comfort needed for the next stage in its life cycle. Following ourvision on renovation, we are only intervening on walls that werealready modified. The east facade is the only facade that we areadapting, in order to increase the spatial continuity on the groundfloor.

Co-creation
The Centre d’enseignement supérieur, de promotion et de formation
continuée en Brabant wallon (CPFB) is an education center linked tothe UCL - University of Louvain with a focus on social development.
When the CPFB launched a call to transform the former post office
into a learning centre, they asked the architects one question: how
can this building be adapted to new teaching methods and a wide
range of courses?
An institute like the CPFB is diverse in the courses it offers, as well as
its students, the size of the groups, the teaching staff and timetables.
It therefore seemed vital to us to start this project with a co-creation
process, to integrate the vision of all of the future users in the project.
For an efficient and productive co-creation process we drew a
specific set of graphic documents to collect information about groupdynamics, workplaces, connections between places, users, andtools. In a second phase, we analysed the information and started
defining different activities and places.

Activity-based design
Once the results of the co-creation process were validated, we began
exploring the spatial possibilities of ‘activity-based design’.
Traditionally, a program is designed in the following way: Place =Function = Activity. To adapt to new learning methods, we areproposing to do away with the permanent assignment of a place to afunction. Functions are mobile and people move around dependingon the activity they perform (and subsequently find the right place).
We choose to define places throughout the building with a strong
spatial character, designed to accommodate an activity rather than afunction. Place = Activity, Function Is Mobile.

archipelago

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east facade

auditorium

archipelagomain circulation stairs

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co-creation process support toolarchipelago

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Contact
agency@archipelago.be+32 (0)16 50 80 00
archipelago
www.archipelago.be