Les Ballets C de la B en LOD Ghent, Belgium Building Project Photo, Design Image

Les Ballets C de la B en LOD Belgium

Ghent Architecture Development in Belgium design by Jan De Vylder architecten

post updated 18 May 2024

Production Studios for Contemporary Dance Company, Ghent
Date built: 2008
Design: Jan De Vylder architecten

At the Bijloke site in Ghent, Jan De Vylder architecten constructed a production house for dance company Les Ballets C de la B and musical theatre LOD.

photo : Filip dujardin/OWI

12 Jun 2009

Les Ballets C de la B en LOD

LES BALLETS C DE LA B & LOD

The result is two alienating constructions back to back; as if they have been pushed apart, yet still contemplate one another through unusual viewing holes. At first, the architects were asked to design a single building with six theatre venues. After reconsidering the entire project, they ended up with three buildings with one theatre venue each. At this moment, two have been built, and the third building obtained a new function as foyer.

photographs: Filip dujardin/OWI

Departing from the characteristics of the site, which has a fragmented ground plan with all sorts of buildings and rest rooms, in between which gardens have grown organically, it seemed logical to design two pavilions instead of a single large building. By designing two almost identical buildings, in a twisted perspective, the architects create confusion and merger at the same time, which results in interesting dynamics. Quite remarkable in the building are the façades on end which, unlike the heart of the building, are completely transparent.

Whereas the rest of the building is wrapped in grey slate, from which windows protrude as guard posts, the two main façades are stately transparent towers referring to glass curtain wall architecture However, the glass façade does not only reveal the function of the building but also its construction. The result actually is a poetic combination of building materials, window settings, staircases and concrete floors with only a glass curtain separating private from public.

The colour combinations, the windows and the matching awnings, the removed slates on the exterior façades, along which plants will grow, did not origin from purely aesthetic consideration. They are rather the result of stringent parameters such as construction and budget. Still, you cannot deny that it has become the architects’ style characteristic.

Les Ballets C de la B en LOD Gent – Building Information

Production house for Les Ballets C de la B en LOD
Address: Bijlokekaai 7 – 9000 Gent
Surface: 880 m²
Finished: November 2008

Collaborators: realised by Jan De Vylder architecten bvba (Jan De Vylder & Inge Vinck) after a design by Jan De Vylder and Trice Hofkens
collaborators: Indra Janda, Lauren Dierickx, Jessica Langerock, Karen Kesteloot and Bert Van Boxelaere

Les Ballets C de la B en LOD Ghent images / information from Jan De Vylder architecten

Location: Bijlokekaai 7 – 9000 Gent, Belgium, western Europe

Architecture in Belgium

Contemporary Architecture in Belgium – architectural selection below:

Brussels Architecture Tours

Belgian Architectural Designs – chronological list

Architectural Tours – city walks

A project by Jan De Vylder architecten, Gent, Belgium

Ghent Buildings – selection below:

DC L-Berg, Ghent – Nominated for Mies van der Rohe 2017 Awards
Design: architecten de vylder vinck taillieu

photo © Filip Dujardin
DC L-Berg Ghent Building, Ledeberg

Rinkkaai Mixed-Use Development
Rinkkaai Mixed-Use Development in Ghent

Stadshal Gent : City Hall, Ghent, Belgium
Design: Robbrecht en Daem architecten; Marie-José Van Hee architecten

photo : Petra Decouttere
Stadshal Gent