Collection

Le Balloir

  • Date 1988-2001
  • Address Place Sainte-Barbe, 11 – 4020 Liège

The Balloir project bears witness to the close ties between Charles Vandenhove and La Maison heureuse, for whom the architect had designed the head office in Ans a few years earlier. It also bears witness to the commitment of Father Gerratz, founder of La Maison heureuse, whose life is entirely devoted to helping the destitute. As with the Hors-Château and Torrentius projects, this involves working on a complex of great historical value formerly occupied by the Sainte-Barbe hospice, some of whose buildings date back to the 17thth century. This ambitious project combines the restoration of the historic buildings with new constructions to house a crèche, a care home, a children’s shelter, a sewing workshop, a second-hand clothes shop, as well as several community spaces and administrative offices. The development of a public space opening onto Place Sainte-Barbe is also part of the brief.

Housing administrative offices, guest rooms and several communal areas, the historic buildings are undergoing a meticulous refurbishment, the design of which reinterprets local tradition. The solutions devised by Vandenhove for the Torrentius and Hors-Château projects are thus evident, in particular, in the treatment of the window frames and certain lintels. We also see certain elements that the architect had developed in the Schunk pharmacy, such as the architrave engraved with abstract motifs or the lobed column. The building facing the Meuse has been extended by a concrete volume at the rear and raised by one storey to house the refectory, whose vaulted ceiling features a work by Jean-Pierre Pincemin. To this architecture rooted in history, Vandenhove adds two buildings with a distinctly contemporary design. Facing the Meuse and opposite the Protestant church, an octagonal tower houses apartments for the care home and is crowned by a dome, whilst at its base, a nursery shaped like flower petals opens out onto the garden.

On the other side, towards Rue Gravioule, the architect has situated the caretaker’s flat and the second-hand shop in a small building whose exposed concrete stands out from the rest of the development. In the centre, shared green spaces encourage people of all ages to come together. The unique and generous vision of Le Balloir continued a few years later with the construction of a new block designed to house rooms for the care home. Connected by a glass walkway, the building adopts a distinctly different style through the use of red concrete coloured throughout the mass. Here too, art and residents coexist, with the enamelled sheet metal panelling in particular featuring designs by Patrick Corillon, Robert Combas and Loïc Le Groumellec.

Guest artists: Robert Combas, Patrick Corillon, Loïc Le Groumellec, Jean-Pierre Pincemin, Léon Wuidar.

  • Description of the collection

    Furniture, site logs, plans, invoices, progress reports, minutes of meetings, quotations, specifications, correspondence, administrative paperwork, tenders…

     
  • Volumetry 36 archive boxes, 23 ring binders (6.10 m)
  • Bibliography

    NIZET, François, ‘Le Balloir in Liège’, in A+, no. 153, August–September 1998, pp. 30–33

    VERSCHAFFEL, Bart and ZWARTS, Kim, Charles Vandenhove, Le Balloir, Rotterdam, Uitgeverij 010, 1996
  • AUTHOR AND DATE OF THE ENTRY Sébastien Charlier, 2022
  • Nadia