Location: Waregem, Belgium.

Architect: KGDVS.

Four emerging businesses in diverse industries will have access to rentable working and production spaces in this facility, which was commissioned by the Provincial Development Company of West Flanders. Since that it is the only shared structure in the allocation of private enterprises, it must state its case. To establish an example of resource efficiency and community involvement, the building is both highly “box-like” and archetypal and elegant and refined. The proposal is a straightforward, sparsely furnished box that showcases the skilful application of typical industrial building materials including prefabricated concrete walls, aluminium siding, and office spaces that resemble cupboards. The open backside of the building is mirrored by a continuous glasshouse facade that faces north and provides light all the way down into the ateliers. The four spaces are separated by a shared meeting room, whose triangular shape confuses the building’s straightforward geometry and plays a perspective trick on people entering the parking lot. The sloping roof makes a series of secure parking spaces in the back for the tenants, clearing the public front facade of the necessary cars and increasing room for manoeuvres at the front gates. The building’s deformed perimeter is a box-ness exercise that promotes self-aware utilitarian architecture.