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2008-08-7 - ZEEBRUGGE SEA TERMINAL, BELGIUM, ZEEBRUGGE To stay viable after the opening of the tunnel between England and the continent, the ferry companies operating across the channel propose to make the crossing more exciting. Not only would the boats turn into floating entertainment worlds, but their destinations - the terminals - would shed their utilitarian character and become attractions.
Building The building crosses a sphere with a cone. The two lowest floors organize traffic to and from the ferries with maximum efficiency; four ships can load and unload simultaneously without interrupting traffic flow. A bus station is projected above this sorting machine; pedestrian acces is through a separate external loop. Above, two floors of parking wind in an ascending spiral culminating in a great public hall, where the panorama of sea and land is revealed for the first time. Then the cone splits into vertical segments: a wedge of offices divides the sphere into hotel and promotional sections. The void between these two parts offers an upward view to the sky and a downward view, through a glass floor, to the depths of the parking garage. The entire building is capped by a glass dome. Under the dome, the two halves are connected by ramps and bridges. The hotel roof accommodates the ulitmate "North Sea Casino”; an amphitheater that slopes down toward the sea can be used as a conference center.
Sign How to inject a new 'sign’ into a landscape that - through scale and atmosphere alone - renders any object both arbitrary and inevitable? To become a landmark, this project adopts a form that resists easy classification to free-associate with successive moods- the mechanical, the industrial, the utilitarian, the abstract, the poetic, the surreal. It combines maximum artistry with maximum efficiency.
Site Parallel to the dike, the site is divided into incoming and outgoing bands. Waiting cars assemble in an S around a circular playground and a drive-in restaurant. Building The building crosses a sphere with a cone. The two lowest floors organize traffic to and from the ferries with maximum efficiency; four ships can load and unload simultaneously without interrupting traffic flow.
A bus station is projected above this sorting machine; pedestrian acces is through a separate external loop. Above, two floors of parking wind in an ascending spiral culminating in a great public hall, where the panorama of sea and land is revealed for the first time.
Then the cone splits into vertical segments: a wedge of offices divides the sphere into hotel and promotional sections. The void between these two parts offers an upward view to the sky and a downward view, through a glass floor, to the depths of the parking garage.
The entire building is capped by a glass dome. Under the dome, the two halves are connected by ramps and bridges. The hotel roof accommodates the ulitmate "North Sea Casino”; an amphitheater that slopes down toward the sea can be used as a conference center. Normal 0 21 unctuationKerning/> false false false
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