Architect: Architecten_Lab
Location: Enschede, Netherlands
Project Year: 2020
The former air base Twenthe is in full development into a Technology Base. The rich (military) history, the landscape setting and the runway give the area a special atmosphere that attracts pioneers and entrepreneurs.
A perfect place for an innovative company that fits the profile well, but needed a considerably larger program than an F16 shelter could offer. This created the demand for extension to a shelter. Architecten_Lab researched which shelter was best suited for this and made the design for the transformation and extension of shelter B517.
From a cultural-historical point of view, the preservation of the deflector with accompanying steel doors and semicircular extension was an absolute recommendation. Architecten_Lab solved this design by demolishing the deflector and realizing it as negative. The opening in the wall of the extension is exactly the same shape and size as the former deflector, making it imaginary in the new situation. The new architecture shows respect for the existing and mainly contributes to cohesion of the whole