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51N4E space producers icon (leuven). Leuven is not in need of another Bilbao Guggenheim.
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Leuven is not in need of another Bilbao Guggenheim. Contrary to Bilbao – a God-given economical underdog – Leuven is not subject to any apparent form of crisis. On the contrary, since the urban redevelopment of its railway station area, the city has successfully aknowledged its own future.
Hence, the idea of Leuven as a city could be considered as complete. All seems to be in place. The only task left for the architect is complementing the centre.
Leuven is a beer city (proud owner of the longest bar counter in Belgium), a congress city and above all one of the oldest university cities in Europe (20.000 students for a population of 90.000). In this context the question for a new city-icon might come across as redundant. The freakishly coherent city centre has turned into an icon itself – another job well done.
The competition call for an icon must be understood as the call for Leuven’s ‘next level’ of development, aiming at maximum impact, beyond its actual provincial ambitions. A new icon should enrol the city in a new major collective experience, enabling it to team up on a grand scale – a european scale?
Since the arrival of Ryanair (the low fares airline) at Charleroi airport, the hinterland of Brussels has experienced a substantial theoretical growth. Nowadays Charleroi airport operates under the name ‘Brussels South’, adding another layer to Brussels’ complex political geographics. This economically driven change of name wouldn’t be possible without the airport infrastructure (a non-culturally driven icon in the make?). By proliferating Charleroi’s logic, Brussels could turn into a city of satellites, so that within a similar radius Mechelen could become ‘Brussels North’, Aalst ‘Brussels West’, and Leuven ‘Brussels East’. Each satellite holding its own specific sub-infrastructure (e.g. airport, forest,…).
In it’s new role as a satellite, Leuven or ‘Brussels East’ can uplift its zone of influence, without necessarily touching the city centre. Similar to Brussels, with its Forêt de Soignes, Brussels East holds to the south an enormous natural reserve: the Heverlee forest. This scattered forest is but a tiny remnant of what once used to be the ‘Coal Forest’, a 7th century wood covering the whole of middle Belgium. At present the Heverlee forest is predominantly used as a mere archipellago to the city, without fully taking part in Brussels East’s urban development.
Learning from Guggenheim’s franchise for Bilbao, the accomodation of the Heverlee forest should at least allow for a national and ideally a european impact. The forest’s main quality – aside from its scale – is that it is simply available, a permissive surface ready to accommodate whatever future injection. Taking into account the wooded condition, any injected programme should consider temporality, minimal financial investment, maximum availability, evolution in time and preferably, to leave no trace. Joining this series of qualities with a potentially european franchise ambition, we propose a shameless transplant of the American desert based event ‘Burning Man’ to Brussels East.
During the last week of August up to 25.000 people invade the Nevada Black Rock desert - here: 25.000 europeans might invade Heverlee forest. Its sole goal: to do what generally cannot be done in public - to be bluntly yourself. Nobody is a spectator at Burning Man, all participants build their own new world, for a week. The programme of Burning Man consists of its participants, a proliferation of 25.000 potential icons, and more.
Logistically the Burning Man camp covers but a minimal surface, opening up to ‘The Unknown’ (here: the forest).
At the end of the event, the whole area is cleaned and left immaculate. Burning Man is the ultimate leave-no-trace event. The ultimate icon for the new Brussels East…
