Periscope Knokke-Heist, West Flanders residential concept building development, Belgian architecture images
Periscope in Knokke-Heist, West Flanders
6 August 2024
Design: Claerhout-Van Biervliet Architects + studio Adriaan Claerhout
Location: Knokke, West Flanders, Belgium
Renders by Adriaan Claerhout
Periscope, West Flanders
Challenges such as limited space and the urgency for sustainability are prevalent in today’s construction landscape. The Periscope project by Claerhout – Van Biervliet Architects offers an innovative solution, including a transformation of our perception of reality.
The Periscope House is a residence, built completely below terrain level. It has a large central patio in the heart of the building, and a contour of outdoor space, both below ground.
The idea of a subterranean building offers multiple advantages, including excellent thermal insulation against both heat and cold. It also has less visual impact on the landscape. Underground spaces are also challenging, since they often provide a dreary, dark, and unpleasant atmosphere to live or work in. They also lack views of the surrounding landscape.
The Periscope House offers a solution to bring the necessary light and view to these underground spaces. Though the building itself is a fixed subterranean structure, it has a contour of movable double mirror structures, functioning as a Periscope. Following the principle of a periscope, these double mirrors are set at a 45-degree angle. The mirrors are mounted on structures that can be independently raised in order to optimize light and view for the underground levels. The building has 2 subterranean levels and, according to the use of the space at a certain moment, the mirrors can be put at the level where light and view is requested. At night, when light and view on the scenery is no longer required, the mirror structures descend to disappear in the landscape again.
This way, natural light and scenic views can penetrate deep into the structure, making this periscope structure an actual “space enhancer.”
The mobility of the mirrored parts surrounding the building serves another sustainability purpose. The upper mirror construction serves as a plant container for hanging plants and shrubs, offering lush green deep into the building. During the day, the mirrors are elevated using solar-powered engines. As the sun sets, the mirrors descend, slowly enclosing the building again. Thanks to the heavy planters, lifted in order to raise the mirrors above the landscape, the potential gravitational energy of this descending mass can be converted into mechanical energy, which subsequently drives a generator to produce electrical energy.
Using this essential part of the building as a gravity battery provides an environmentally friendly solution for storing renewable energy, especially since the energy for lifting these parts is provided by solar panels mounted on the upper levels of the containers.
Even though it might appear as a rather high-tech solution, the technologies involved are common and are used for other purposes in the built environment. Implementing them on this next level, therefore, is feasible.
This Periscope House is focused on a residential application, but it is also useable in other contexts or functions, such as offices, cultural spaces, and museums, where this new potential of underground spaces can offer unexpected opportunities.
The ultimate aim of the Periscope is to craft an innovative building that contributes to a more sustainable world. The architectural layout draws inspiration from the spatial traditions of Roman and Palladian villas.
The Periscope system offers more than a reflection of reality – it revolutionizes our perception by entirely displacing it.
Periscope in Knokke-Heist, Belgium – Building Information
Design: Architects Claerhout – Van Biervliet – https://www.claerhout-vanbiervliet.com/
Project name: Periscope – reality displacement as space enhancer and energy storage device
Location: Unbuilt
Architects: Claerhout-Van Biervliet Architects + studio Adriaan Claerhout
Design Team: Xaveer Claerhout + Barbara Van Biervliet + Adriaan Claerhout
Project sector: residential
About Architects Claerhout-Van Biervliet
Architects Claerhout-Van Biervliet is an award-winning studio with a multi-disciplinary team of architects, engineers, and designers, based in Knokke, Belgium. Xaveer Claerhout holds a Master degree in History of Art and in Architecture. Barbara Van Biervliet holds a Master degree in Engineering and Architecture. Adriaan Claerhout is a creator-director with a focus on artistic movie-making.
The Architects’ studio is specialized in creating original concepts for architecture, interior, and product design, and in bringing these concepts to reality. Though the main focus lies on high-end residential architecture, the studio also creates projects in the cultural and office sector.
Within the architects’ studio, there is a special cell called the Metamorphic Art Studio. This cell develops innovative concepts in art, design, and architecture, with a focus on transformative and metamorphic applications. Since 2012, some of their metamorphic artifacts have formed part of the permanent collection of Museum Centre Pompidou in Paris.
Image credits: Adriaan Claerhout
Periscope, Knokke-Heist, West Flanders images / information received 060824 from v2com newswire
Location: Knokke-Heist, West Flanders, Belgium, western Europe
Belgian Architecture
Belgian Architecture Designs
Belgian Architectural Designs – chronological list
Brussels Architecture Tours tailored city walks by e-architect
Belgian Architect – design firm listings on e-architect
Belgian Buildings – Selection
The Station by the Sea, Oostende
Architects: Dietmar Feichtinger Architectes
photograph : David Boureau
New Building in Oostende
P.Nt2 Brussels, Brussels
Design: BOB361 architects
photograph : A. Nullens
P.Nt2 Mixed-Use Transformation Brussels by BOB361
Bruxelles Gare du Midi
Design: Ateliers Jean Nouvel
Bruxelles Gare du Midi
Antwerp Port Authority headquarters
Design: Zaha Hadid Architects
Antwerp Port House
Charleroi Museum of Photography
Design: l’Escaut Architecture
Charleroi Museum of Photography Building
Rue de la Loi, Brussels
Design: Christian de Portzamparc
Rue de la Loi Brussels
Antwerp Law Courts
Design: Richard Rogers Partnership
Antwerp Law Courts
Comments / photos for the Periscope, Knokke-Heist, West Flanders concept building building design by Claerhout-Van Biervliet Architects + studio Adriaan Claerhout page welcome.