Collection

Créahm

  • Date 2014-2020
  • Address Rue de la Brasserie, 5 – 4000 Liège

A leading institution in Liège’s cultural landscape, Créahm (Creativity and Intellectual Disability) supports and showcases all forms of art produced by people with disabilities. Founded in 1979, the organisation is housed in historic premises on Quai Saint-Léonard; these buildings, with their varying floor levels typical of 19th-century houses, are ill-suited to the needs of its users. In 2013, Charles Vandenhove and Prudent De Wispelaere were commissioned to design the new building to be constructed within the Vivegnis cultural hub (comprising, in particular, the E2N and the RAVI), situated not far from the old premises. The plot is spacious and allows for a building set back from the road. The new building is arranged across two successive levels. The ground floor mainly houses the creative spaces, namely three studios (engraving, painting, sculpture), a large auditorium with a capacity of 94 seats, as well as a kitchen and a dining hall. The first floor comprises a multimedia room, a meeting room and offices. Dominated by brick, the building follows in the footsteps of the Terrasses de Saint-Gilles, drawing even more explicit inspiration from the work of Louis Kahn and, in particular, the First Unitarian Church in Rochester. In this final architectural venture (Charles Vandenhove passed away shortly before the project’s inauguration), the project’s architects drew on the historical legacy that had made the practice’s reputation, and the involvement of a visual artist was a natural choice. Michel Petiniot, a collaborator with Creahm since 1989, designed the motifs printed on the panelling and glazing on the ground floor.

  • Description of the collection

    Preliminary plans, planning permission, construction documents, correspondence, photographs…
  • Volumetry 13 archive boxes (1.56 m)
  • Bibliography

    VERSCHAFFEL, Bart, La maison du CRÉAHM, Liège, Liège, Fondation Jeanne & Charles Vandenhove, 2021.
  • AUTEUR ET DATE DE LA NOTICE Sébastien Charlier, 2023