Type de collection: Archives

Attributed to the Liège architect Lambert Lombard, the Hôtel Torrentius was built in the second half of the 16th^th century and, alongside the Hôtel Desoër de Solières and the Hôtel de Bocholtz, stands as one of the finest examples of Renaissance architecture in Liège. However, like others, it nearly disappeared under the blows of the pickaxes that, in the 1960s and 1970s, destroyed most of the Cadran district, near Place Saint-Lambert. Listed as a monument in 1969, the building was occupied by a police station, sold to the Banque de Paris et des Pays-Bas, and then left to fall into disrepair until Charles Vandenhove acquired it in 1978.

The architect began by removing the additions made to the building in the 19^th century. The demolition of various rooms and the large garage at the rear of the property created a lovely courtyard whilst revealing the south façade. The next phase of the project saw the architect call upon René Greisch, who designed a concrete slab for the second floor to ensure the building’s stability. The restoration of the building dominated the early stages of the work, involving the repair of the roofs and masonry and the demolition of various internal partitions. This work inside the building led to the discovery of archaeological finds of great significance, such as the wall fresco attributed to Lambert Lombard, bearing the inscription ‘Cum finierit tunc incipiet’ (When man thinks he has finished, he is only just beginning).

The demolition of various partition walls has enabled the architect to create his studio on the ground floor, his private flat on the first floor, and a flat and a studio in the attic. Charles Vandenhove’s work on this building of significant heritage value is not, however, limited to a faithful restoration; and, as with the project in Hors-Château, the architect proposes contemporary interventions that serve the building’s new function. In the centre of the building, the grand Louis XIV staircase was purchased and dismantled by the City of Liège, thereby freeing up space on the ground floor and allowing the first-floor premises to be reconfigured. Vandenhove employed a design he favours: two spiral staircases, one leading to the crypt in the basement and another in the corner tower leading to the upper floors. The entrance porch, which had previously served as a passageway for cars, was completely reconfigured beneath a barrel vault, featuring an intervention by Daniel Buren. Collaboration with visual artists – a fundamental aspect of Vandenhove’s work – is further highlighted by the interventions of Léon Wuidar and Olivier Debré on the walls and ceilings, which, without any sense of discord, lend a new luminosity to the interior spaces. The architect’s contemporary design is also marked by the influence of Carlo Scarpa’s work, which he rediscovered during a trip to Italy with Geert Bekaert and Francis Strauven. With his bronze columns, which notably mark the intersections of the windows, his oculi, and his fireplaces and joinery featuring ziggurat-shaped mouldings, Torrentius presents a new, almost universal language, which is also evident in the Hors-Château project, the design of which is contemporary.

Guest artists: Daniel Buren, Olivier Debré, Léon Wuidar.

The Thonon house bears witness to both the continuities and the shifts in the architect’s approach to the single-family home. The client, the owner of a luxury ready-to-wear boutique in Liège and an art lover, commissioned Charles Vandenhove to build a spacious house on his plot – a large, ideally oriented site situated not far from the Repriels house. Unlike the houses built shortly before, the architect departed from the extremely simple layout of the Schoffeniels, Dufays and Schoonbroodt houses to arrange the living spaces in a U-shaped plan. The property, totalling over 400 m², is spread over two levels. The service areas, including the domestic staff’s flat, are situated in the basement and are connected to the ground floor by a spiral staircase that winds around a stainless steel column. On the ground floor, the architect has arranged the bedrooms at either end of the house. To the west, the two children’s bedrooms and the dressing room are adjacent to the bathroom and the kitchen. To the east, the master bedroom is situated next to a bathroom, a dressing room and a large library. In the centre, the spacious living room opens out onto a generous south-facing terrace. As in the Repriels house, Vandenhove emphasises the raw character of the materials, leaving the brick and concrete exposed. Here, however, concrete takes on a more assertive role, particularly in the ceilings composed of prefabricated elements. Similarly, the concrete columns, with their prominent formwork marks, bear witness to the architect’s evolving thinking on the column. This reflection is even more evident in the treatment of the façade, where, once again, the columns form a composition that sees the return of the flat roof. As Bart Verschaffel points out: “Columns and piers do not support a heavy roof, but rather construct the façade, with a prefabricated concrete cladding and a classical projection.”

“Choosing you as my architect was neither a whim – as some might have done, perhaps thinking you were a successful architect – nor a lottery, because I’m not in the habit of buying tickets, but the culmination of twenty years’ reflection. I had, in fact, been looking at architects’ work for a very long time, certainly since the early 1950s; I had even considered other options before discovering your work. It was when I saw the house on Rue Chauve-Souris that my decision was confirmed. ”

The construction of the artist’s studio-home in 1974 marked the first milestone in a long collaboration that would bear fruit, in particular, with the University Hospital and the Hôtel Torrentius projects. The ties between the two men, however, go back further, to as early as 1967, with the architect having been responsible, amongst other things, for the catalogue of an exhibition dedicated to the artist in Liège in 1968.

The Wuidar House is built on a gently sloping plot in a wooded setting. Once again, the floor plan is very simple. A long rectangular volume divided into five bays organises the interior spaces, which unfold around a long central space reminiscent of the geometric rigour of the Dufays House’s floor plan and, more broadly, of a basilica-style layout. As in the previous houses, the architect favours a bold use of materials, with exposed concrete blocks both inside and on the façade. The window frames are made of wood, and the design of the front door echoes that of the Dufays House. Indeed, this house appears to mark a turning point in the design of single-family dwellings not only for Vandenhove but also amongst his close collaborators. Thus, the house that Jacques Sequaris built for himself in 1971–1973, with the collaboration of Pierre Arnould, bears witness to a continuation of this line of thought, but also to new design elements that Vandenhove adopted in the Wuidar House, such as the stepped gable or the monumental semi-circular window. The layout of the interior spaces also features a number of distinctive elements. The design of the light coffered ceilings unfolds in an inverted staircase pattern, as if extending the gable. The sequencing of the interior spaces also reflects particular attention to detail, with the architect incorporating numerous porticoes and playing on the interplay of materials between concrete blocks and architectural concrete.

Between 1993 and 1995, the architect carried out an extension to the house. The approach was deliberately different. A striking concrete cube was positioned at the rear of the house on the sloping plot and extends over three levels connected by a spiral staircase.

Guest artist: Léon Wuidar.

The design for the Schoonbroodt family’s home reflects the social circles in which Charles Vandenhove moved. Close to cultural and intellectual circles, the architect and his wife Jeanne were discerning music lovers. It was therefore through personal friendships that Hubert Schoonbroodt, organ professor at the Royal Conservatoire of Liège, came to commission Vandenhove.

The house is situated on the outskirts of Eupen, in a peaceful, leafy neighbourhood. The architect’s proposed layout breaks with the conventional arrangement of having the living areas on the ground floor and the bedrooms upstairs. Within a large rectangle of precise dimensions – 8.4 metres wide and exactly twice that in length – Vandenhove has combined a large living/dining room, a kitchen, the master bedroom and a child’s bedroom, all directly connected to the bathroom. A garage and a storage room complete the ground floor. Accessible via a wooden spiral staircase, the mezzanine houses two bedrooms and a bathroom. Facing south-west, the living areas look out onto the garden and are generously lit by a monumental floor-to-ceiling window that spans the entire façade.

With the Schoonbroodt house, Vandenhove experimented with the ‘mass-producible house’ (a similar house was being built at the same time for the Delforge family in Beez, near Namur) and favoured an approach centred on prefabricated elements, constructing the façades from architectural concrete panels combined with wooden frames. As for the gable roof, it rests on a steel framework whose outer beams echo the tubular design already employed by the architect in several projects. Similarly, as with the Schoffeniels House, the entrance hall is preceded by a canopy comprising four Plexiglas sky-domes. The exterior design of the house, meanwhile, marks a more explicit affirmation of the column as both a structural and formal element. Like an ancient temple, the house is surrounded by a peristyle of concrete columns.

Ten years later, Charles Vandenhove was involved in the extension of the house, adding a music pavilion linked to the main building by a glazed gallery. Topped by a pyramidal roof, the extension features a mezzanine accessible via a straight staircase supported by black marble columns. As in many of his projects, the architect designed several pieces of furniture, such as the bookcase and the organ installed in the music pavilion.

In 1992, Vandenhove was commissioned one last time by the family to create the memorial erected in honour of the organist in Eupen cemetery.

Nestled within the base of the Chiroux-Croisiers-Kennedy complex, which was nearing completion (1960–1976) and designed by Jean Poskin and Henri Bonhomme, the Galerie Véga, founded by Manette Repriels in 1972 (opening with an exhibition of works by Sonia Delaunay), was situated beneath the bridge-like structure linking the two parts of the complex. Recognisable by its curved shopfront (shop no. 7), the venue was both discreet in relation to the built masses derived from Jean Royer’s urban planning project, and impossible to miss due to its location at the heart of the pedestrian and vehicular traffic serving Les Chiroux. The layout proposed by Charles Vandenhove – who had designed Manette and Jacques Repriels’ villa in Plainevaux ten years earlier – was both simple and practical, focusing primarily on the configuration of the exhibition space in the basement to double the floor area from 67 m², with minor ad hoc alterations. His archives contain few documents relating to these adaptations, apart from those concerning the creation of the sign by Charles Vandenhove. The clean and powerful graphic design consisted of a square on its point, subdivided by a recessed ‘V’, bordered by two strips of blue neon tubes. The production of this sign, positioned above the entrance door, was entrusted to the Atelier d’Art Jean Rets (who was due to exhibit there in 1976). This logo, stripped back to its simplest form for maximum impact, was widely publicised through the gallery’s communications, the direction of which evolved rapidly under the influence of Fernand Spillemaeckers (Galerie MTL in Brussels), embracing minimal and conceptual art and bringing together artists such as Bernd & Hilla Becher, Joseph Beuys, Mel Bochner, Marcel Broodthaers, Pol Bury, André Cadere, Jacques Charlier, Patrick Corillon, Jo Delahaut, Peter Downsbrough, Gilbert & George, Dan Graham, Simon Hantaï, Barbara & Michael Leisgen, Sol LeWitt, Jacques-Louis Nyst, Dennis Oppenheim, Panamarenko, Gérard Titus-Carmel and Léon Wuidar. A photograph of ‘Mirror Window Corner Piece’, an installation by Dan Graham specifically arranged in 1976, appeared three years later on the cover of Benjamin H.D. Buchloh’s book, Dan Graham • Video – Architecture – Television.

In December 1970, the French government, on the initiative of Georges Pompidou, launched an international architectural competition with a view to building a cultural centre dedicated to contemporary culture and creativity. This prestigious project, in the very heart of Paris, sparked enthusiasm amongst numerous architectural practices from all corners of the world, and more than 650 designs were submitted to the jury. Charles Vandenhove, a passionate advocate of art and culture, also sought to put forward his vision for the project and, in the project’s presentation document, called for an open and free-form structure: ‘Based on the proposed programme, the Centre is, rather than a building or a group of buildings, rather than a defined space, a “structuring” of the current void on the Beaubourg plateau. This structure must respect, continue and, at the same time, expand and intensify the urban potential of the neighbourhood, envisaged as an integral part of Paris.’ The flexibility offered by the architect’s proposed structure is total: ‘Ultimately, the proposed structure could, if necessary, easily be adapted to become a shopping centre, housing, or both. ’ Within this structure, which can be enclosed by façades… or not, the architect incorporates the full range of activities defined by the programme: a permanent gallery, a contemporary art gallery showcasing current exhibitions, an experimental contemporary art gallery, museums, a library, a canteen, a restaurant…

To underpin his project, Vandenhove draws on several previous projects and adopts the same construction system – based on prefabrication – which he developed at the University Hospital, the Peltzer Clinic (Verviers) and the Institute of Biology in Louvain-la-Neuve.

With the Dufays house, Vandenhove returns to the concept of a weekend home, a project he had previously developed in Provence with the Merveille house. Here, the setting is the Pays de Herve, a hilly landscape characterised by orchards. This project was the subject of much careful consideration on the architect’s part. Originally, the house, resting on a square plinth, was organised around a cross-shaped floor plan. Beneath a flat roof, the house extended out onto terraces covered with sky-domes, much like the Schoffeniels House. Vandenhove subsequently revised the design. Set back from the road and on a gently sloping plot, the house rests on a masonry plinth whose plan, with its apses, is reminiscent of a basilica. The house has two storeys. In the semi-underground basement, the service areas comprise the entrance hall and the garage. A spiral staircase – the design of which foreshadows the one the architect would later create for the Hôtel Torrentius – leads to the main floor, comprising two bedrooms, each with its own bathroom, the living room, the dining room and the kitchen; these spaces are arranged symmetrically around a central axis. Two large bay windows flood the living areas with light and open out onto the large terrace, which forms a walkway encircling the house. The materials chosen by the architect are simple and inexpensive, in particular the concrete blocks left in their raw state both inside and out. As for the roof – a fundamental structural element in the architect’s design – it consists of two slopes that do not meet, leaving space for skylighting. Made of corrugated asbestos-cement sheets, it rests on a metal framework whose tubes clearly echo the structural elements of the university hospital’s glass roof.

Built on the edge of the Pays de Herve and set apart from the small village of Olne for Ernest Schoffeniels, a doctor and professor at the University of Liège, the Schoffeniels House marks a transition in the architect’s approach to single-family housing design. Constructed at the same time as the Country Hall, it incorporates various features from the latter, including the square floor plan and the shape of the roof. The house is built on eight T-shaped concrete columns that support the roof. The pyramid-shaped roof is reminiscent of that of the Country Hall and reflects the architect’s ongoing research into roofing design. These columns, positioned around the perimeter of the floor plan, allow the living spaces to be free of any supporting structures and facilitate the organisation of the spaces using lightweight partitions. As in the Country Hall, Vandenhove positions the entrance at an angle. After passing through the hall, the visitor enters the living room, around which the four bedrooms and the kitchen are arranged. Wooden posts divide the space and support the mezzanine, which extends beneath the roof and houses a bedroom, a bathroom and a study. A dome-shaped skylight provides natural light to the upper floor.

As is often the case, Vandenhove’s influence is also evident in the home’s furnishings. In particular, the architect designed several pieces of furniture, such as the bookcase, a sideboard and a table. As a sort of variation on the main plan, three square-shaped covered terraces extend the corners of the house. Supported by slender concrete columns, the Plexiglas domes provide ideal sheltered spaces extending from the kitchen, the living room and the hall.

Towards the end of the 1960s, Charles Vandenhove’s practice was receiving a steady stream of major commissions. Just as he was about to complete the Brull Residence on the banks of the Meuse, the architect once again turned his attention to the university. Plans to build an Institute of Physical Education and Physiotherapy had been in place since 1961 but had been delayed due to a lack of funding. Founded in 1931, the Higher Institute of Physical Education had been housed in various premises across the city of Liège until the Sart-Tilman project allocated it a site at Blanc Gravier. The brief is, once again, fairly straightforward. The aim is to provide sports facilities for the students and teaching staff who will soon be moving onto the Sart-Tilman campus. The campus must, of course, be a place of work, but also a place to live, with its own sports and leisure facilities. The complex comprises five distinct buildings, all sharing the same powerful formal identity: three sports halls, an indoor swimming pool, a large multi-purpose sports hall and teaching facilities (classrooms, offices, library, etc.). The multi-purpose sports halls, which vary in size, have a very distinctive appearance characterised by large-span roofs that slope at different angles. Constructed entirely from fair-faced concrete, the gables—marked by powerful buttresses—are completely blind; natural light filters in at times through long strips at ground level, at times through glazed façades, and at times via skylights. The roofs, made of corrugated asbestos-cement sheets, are supported by wooden trusses with a refined aesthetic. Low-lying, almost underground structures, covered with flat, grass-topped roofs, are reserved for classrooms.

By the late 1960s, Charles Vandenhove and his team were receiving a steady stream of commissions. In addition to the massive University Hospital construction project, the University’s projects both in the city centre and at Sart Tilman kept the practice running at full capacity. This did not prevent Charles Vandenhove from accepting more modest commissions. The commission for a ‘nursery home’ to be built in Alleur, on the hills above Liège, was first and foremost a realisation of the social values that Vandenhove shared with Father Gerratz. The latter, curate of the parish of Bressoux and regarded as Liège’s own Abbé Pierre, founded La Maison heureuse asbl in 1955, a charity dedicated to helping the most disadvantaged. Since the 1950s, the Vandenhove-Belvaux couple had been supporting the priest’s charitable work until a meeting that would forge a lifelong friendship. For several years, Charles Vandenhove lent his expertise as an architect to Father Gerratz to maintain the properties owned by the non-profit organisation. When, in 1968, the priest envisaged building a complex for young single mothers, it was only natural that he turned to Vandenhove. Formerly belonging to the Episcopal Seminary of Liège, the plot of land acquired by La Maison heureuse asbl covers nearly 3,000 m² in an ordinary housing estate on the outskirts of Liège. Set back from the road, the building follows a layout reminiscent of that of the Schoffeniels house or the Salle du Standard. From a square central core housing a spiral staircase, access routes branch out diagonally. On the ground floor, the communal areas (kitchen, dining room, laundry room, children’s playroom, etc.) and the director’s private flat are arranged around a central space lit by a skylight. Upstairs, eight studio flats are arranged in pairs on either side of the building. Each pair of flats shares a bathroom and a toilet. The style adopted by Vandenhove is reminiscent of that of the Home Brull, where brick and architectural concrete interact subtly. At the corners of the building, the architect has left a gap between the masonry walls. Whilst the overall layout draws on earlier projects, the covering of certain outdoor spaces with Plexiglas domes supported by circular concrete columns is unmistakably reminiscent of the solutions employed in the Schoffeniels House.