Avansa moved into a building in the ‘Cellenbroedersstraat’ in the city centre of Hasselt. This organisation provides training for adults and needed a new interior as part of the building's renovation. The entrance area, meeting room and kitchen on the ground floor were designed as 'everyday' spaces. This means an honest, no-nonsense approach for the interior. The first intervention is to expose the concrete ceiling. We deliberately leave techniques in sight, so that the height is not limited by suspended ceilings. This lends a robust, industrial character to the space. Columns are finished to the height of the structure, as is the storage cupboard separating the entrance area from the meeting room. Space separating elements such as a folding door and a pivoting door are finished from floor to ceiling. Finally, the convectors are built into a birch veneer cabinet.
The lifespan of the buildings structure is longer than the lifespan of techniques and fixed furniture. Therefore, we emphasise the temporality of an interior for an office building by looking for the contrast in materiality. The entrance desk, storage cupboards and doors are finished in a wood veneer or wooden acoustic cladding. They are conceived as a 'soft' infill for the building.
