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Foto: Jeroen Verrecht

Two farewell rooms in white lacquered steel

The municipality of Houthalen wanted to build a place of farewell on each of the two Houthalen-Helchteren cemeteries. The winning design is pared right back to the essentials: a roof, columns and two walls, all made of steel and finished with two-component paint. Both of the farewell rooms are built on a concrete surface, and the chapel itself is a simple arrangement of a few slender columns, a roof and two walls in white painted steel. The curved shapes in the walls provide the building as a whole with rigidity, but also shift the roof in relation to the walls, creating openings that give the sunlight free rein to dapple the rounded walls with an ever-changing interplay of shadow drawings. The choice of steel makes the construction extra slender and gives it a delicacy that – together with the white colour – lends a sense of lightness that contrasts with the heavy emotion of saying goodbye.
  • Kerkhofstraat 2, Houthalen-Helchteren
    Location
  • Gemeentebestuur Houthalen-Helchteren, Houthalen-Helchteren
    Client
  • Architect Hans Maes, Houthalen
    Architect / Designer
  • Bureau M. Lavreysen, Leuven
    Structural engineering
  • IMA Creaties, Tessenderlo
    General contractor
  • IMA Creaties, Tessenderlo
    Steel contractor