The temporary glass pavilion in Ghent’s historic ‘Groot Vleeshuis’ is a 50m by 4m volume designed by architects Couss\u00e9e & Goris to promote Flemish regional products, supported partly on the vaulted cellars of the ‘Galgenhuis’ and partly on a shallow raft foundation where archaeological constraints ruled out any deeper works. Because the structure had to be fully demountable, the engineering team designed a LEGO-like system with all connections hidden from view, using steel I-beams that minimise differential settlement and make the volume appear to float above the historic floor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As a result of an architectural contest organised by the East Flanders province for the design of a temporary structure to promote Flemish regional products within the ‘Groot Vleeshuis’ (a historical building within the Ghent town centre), the architects Couss\u00e9e & Goris designed a spacious glass volume of 50m long by 4m large. The ‘rhythm’ of this temperature building structure is adapted to the ‘rhythm’ of the historical ‘Groot Vleeshuis’.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the renovated part of the historical ‘Groot Vleeshuis’, the structure is supported by the vaults of the cellars in the ‘Galgenhuis’ (which is the part of the building where convicts where hanged in former days). While the remaining part of the building does not have any cellars below, a raft structure was used to support the glass volume, at the same time respecting the very strict archaeological constraints.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The temporary nature of the glass structure demanded for a design that could easily be dismantled. The architects therefore closely cooperated with the structural engineers to conceive an expressive building system that could simply be built up and dismantled like a LEGO system. For aesthetic reasons, all connections to the supporting structure had to be invisible to the visitors of the \u2018Groot Vleeshuis\u2019. The steel I-beams below the volume spanning the cellars minimize differential settlements, account for unavoidable level differences on the historical floor and make the volume appear as floating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n