ICE

Programme

Art Gallery and studio 

About

"... I have always paid great attention to details to integrate techniques in the best possible way and prioritize proportions. But now, there is also something else that occupies my thoughts: after five or ten years, many modern buildings that were originally immaculate begin to lose their shine. Hence, I have decided to increasingly use materials that would not succumb to the ravages of time, but would instead gain in patina.

With my collaborators, we transform our Brussels workshop into a kind of laboratory, where we study solutions one by one, before implementing them on ongoing projects in about ten countries worldwide, especially by comparing the advantages of different woods, stones, as well as smooth or granular concretes.

In Corsica, for example, we added ‘tuff,’ the stone dust from Bonifacio, to a mixture of sand, water, and stone, so that the resulting concrete would blend into the surrounding nature. Additionally, we poured this concrete into formworks lined with planks of wood of varying thicknesses. This leaves it marked with streaks and also creates horizontal planes where plant dust and marine deposits accumulate.

In this way, the material will appear alive, imprinted with a certain ‘dirt,’ much like the rocks that crown the immense building. It will no longer be referred to as ‘aging’ or ‘degradation,’ but rather as ‘patina,’ ‘authenticity.’ It is a tribute to the passage of time... "

The ICE building unfurls its concrete shell to protect, and it also opens the interior space to different public or private activities. Gradually, nature will highlight its shapes; it will be a happy marriage between the mineral and the vegetal.

Typology

Culture

Status

Non construit

Year of conception

2013

More information
Atelier d'Architecture Bruno Erpicum