Cultuurcentrum en kunstacademie De Ververij

The flexibility with which looking back and looking forward merge into one another, and the almost parallel application of several different strategies in dealing with history, is also a feature of the ‘De Ververij’ art academy and cultural centre in Ronse. Created by evr-Architects out of the industrial ruin of a textile factory from 1911, the original structure of the factory, with pillars positioned on a strict grid layout, has been retained as much as possible. The architectural idiom employed is so tender towards the existing building that a casual visitor would think that the factory had emerged unscathed from its decades-long period of dereliction.

But evr really did make changes. In the centre of the building, they created a patio to allow daylight into the surrounding rooms and to create an outdoor podium.