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Groenhof Castle

This is a project by Samyn and Partners and it is located at Flanders, Belgium. There are twelve images for Groenhof Castle.

: © Jan Verlinde

Project images

Designer's statement

The castle was built around 1830 in an asymmetrical French style. In accordance with principles of monument conservation, all the interventions are carried out in such a way that they are reversible.

Inside, on the ground floor, the south corridor is reorganized into a long and simple gallery that extends with a reflecting water surface across the park. The stair in the extension of the gallery leads to a North-South cross gallery both on the first and second floor, from where a spiral stair leads to the terrace roof.

The roof is equipped with a wooden terrace and a parapet of steel rods as well as a central glazed stairwell lantern, a canopy of glazed solar collectors for hot water and stainless steel chimneys for the natural ventilation of the sleeping rooms.

The South façade is balanced by the addition of a sophisticated glass and steel construction, parallel to the façade at a distance of 2,7 m. The steel frame holds a glazed ‘orangerie’ at groundfloor, a permeable wooden terrace spanning to the existing façade and stainless steel solar screens at first floor, and finally voltaïc cells on clear glass sheets on the second floor.

Services performed: Programmation; Architecture; Analysis of the existing situation; Civil Engineering; Service Engineering; Cost Control and Quantity Surveying; Project Management.

Award: Belgian Architectural Awards 2000, First Prize (Category: Reconversion of Valuable Old Buildings).

Location: Flanders, Belgium
Principal architects: Samyn and Partners
Photographs: Raf Brimmel, Christian Richters, J-L Laloux, Jan Verlinde, Ch. Bastin & J. Evrard
Construction period: 1996-1999
Area: 960 sqm