Barozzi Veiga and Tab Architects won First Prize for Kursaal Casino Knokke-Heist
11/12/2023.
[Knokke-Heist] Belgium
metalocus, ANTONIO CORREDERA
metalocus, ANTONIO CORREDERA
Project description by Barozzi Veiga, Tab Architects
Barozzi Veiga in collaboration with Tab Architects, Barbara Van Der Wee Architects, and Mosbach Paysagiste won the competition for the renovation and extension of the Casino Knokke-Heist to be transformed into a new cultural and leisure center.
The proposal—accommodating an event space, an art hall, a nightclub, a casino, a restaurant and wine bar, and a car park—is a confrontation between old and new. The ambition is to restore the overall cohesion of the building and create coherence with the new additions.
The northern part of the Kursaal, with the glazed façade of the main hall, will be reconstructed according to the qualities of Leon Stynen's initial design. On the south side, the new extension reinforces the existing architecture with a soft organic design, whose formal language integrates and respects the purity of the north side. The chaotic arrangement on the south side of the existing building is thoughtfully resolved by creating symmetry with the positioning of the art hall as a counterpart to the Magritte Hall. René Magritte's mural 'The Enchanted Realm' becomes the central reference point in the new southern addition, which is also the link volume between the existing building and the new underground extension with the casino scene.
Kursaal Casino Knokke-Heist Barozzi Veiga and Tab Architects. Rendering by Onirism.
The architecture with its play of metamorphosis, transformation, and duplication, the idea of a representation that is not one, reads like the theme of Magritte's work. The dichotomy between continuity with the existing and the desire for a new identity is translated into a single new volume with a poetic meaning for Knokke-Heist.
The project will be implemented in two phases. The design is such that, on the one hand, the underground casino and the public car park and, on the other, the Kursaal with its leisure and culture program, can be built in phases one after the other. In this way, the current casino can remain fully operational during the first phase.
Fabrizio Barozzi born in Rovereto (Italy) in 1976. He currently lives and works in Barcelona.He graduated as an architect in 2003 by the University Institute of Architecture in Venezia. He completed his training in 1999 at the School of Architecture of Seville in 2001 while living in Paris.
He began his training partner in 2003 working as the office of William Vázquez Consuegra and later in 2004 is associated with Alberto Veiga and establish their own professional studio.
He has been Professor of Projects at International University of Catalonia in Barcelona from 2007 to 2009 and since 2009 is Associate Professor of Projects at the University of Girona.
Alberto Veiga (Santiago de Compostela, Spain), was born in 1973 and studied architecture at the School of Architecture of Navarre. After graduating, he worked as an assistant and planner in Patxi Mangado practices in 1997-2001. From 2001-03, he worked as a designer of Guillermo Vázquez Consuegra, where he worked on a number of projects awarded. In 2004 he settled in EBV Architects with Fabrizio Barozzi. Projects currently teaches 3rd year at UIC.
EBV Architects is an architectural firm located in Barcelona and founded by Fabrizio Barozzi (Trento, Italy, 1976) and Alberto Veiga (Santiago, Spain, 1973) devoted to architecture, urbanism and interior design. The experience accumulated over the years in collaboration with renowned architects has allowed prestige EBV start a professional career where independent research plays a major role. The study EBV and has been awarded with many awards nationally and internationally.