Ouest architecture practice designed a summer bar for Asiat Park, an urban center in Vilvoorde, Belgium. The project offers a respectful yet innovative reinterpretation of the existing space and landscape by introducing a series of modular structures that share a cohesive design language.

Asiat Park is the new urban center of Vilvoorde, bustling with activities and creative businesses, just a stone’s throw from Brussels.

It hosts, among other events, the HORST festival and invites numerous architects, designers, and artists to propose interventions — sometimes temporary installations or pavilions, sometimes more permanent elements.

In April 2022, Ouest designed and built a summer bar inside one of the existing warehouses on the site.

The project consists of several modules arranged within the space to create the bar, benches, tables, and stools.

In a spirit of respectful yet innovative reinterpretation, the new elements, blends seamlessly with the older elements and the general landscape. This approach follows a logic of continuity of the outdoor space rather than treating the structure.

The kitchen has been organized to create generous, high-quality spaces, both from the perspective of the kitchen itself and that of the bar area. Here we draw on the experience and lessons learned from the bars and counters we have designed and built over the past ten years, focusing on the precis layout and organization of the bar, both for the staff and for the public, as well as on the overall functionality and ergonomics.

The proposed topography of the bar counter is both joyful and inclusive: it offers possibilities for all users, notably by allowing service at the centre of the counter for wheelchair users or people of shorter stature.

Each element shares the same design language: terracotta bricks are stacked and interlocked to form the bar furniture, topped with a wooden board that provides both work surfaces and seating areas.

Ouest usually works on larger-scale projects and programs, but this very project remains relevant due to the relationship between the existing pavilion and Ouest’s interventions for this bar, as well as to the connection between the project and the surrounding park and landscape.

The new architectural language introduced into the building allows us to create different situations and relationships with the context, while emphasizing the building’s industrial character and respecting its nature and identity.

This is a very important aspect of our practice: we always strive to engage with existing buildings through a contemporary language, while showing respect and sensitivity toward the buildings themselves and their historical elements.

Drawings – Sketches

Facts & Credits
Title Asiat Summer Bar
Typology Interior, Bar/Brewery
Location Vilvorde, Belgium
Status Completed, 2022
Architecture OUEST
Photography Lukas Claessens
Text by the authors


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