What motivates Europeans to abandon fences around residential buildings, schools and even... prisons? Is low-rise architecture really the key to the comfort of European cities or is it one of the myths that opponents of high-rise buildings continue to exploit? And how inviolable is the architect's copyright in Belgium? Frederik Vaes and Arsenii Kuznetsov answered PRAGMATIKA.MEDIA's questions.
PRAGMATIKA.MEDIA: The main theme of our volume is security. And one of the most urgent problems for Ukrainian cities is fences. Our country can be called "the country of fences".
Most architects are very familiar with the global trend for maximum openness and support it. But the customer is guided by demand, and in society today there is a very high demand for closed areas around new residential complexes. What design solutions do you practice to ensure security in Belgium?
Frederic Wyes: One of our completed projects is a school where we refused to build a fence altogether. We thought: maybe it would be enough to have some kind of element that simply tells students the boundary of the school territory? Instead of a fence, we created a gallery that rests on columns and surrounds the school on the perimeter.
There remains absolutely free access from all sides, but thanks to the visual marker of the border, schoolchildren develop a sense of security. A transparent gallery allowed us to abandon such a rigid element as a fence.
Architects Frederik Vayes, co-founding partner of the UAU collectiv bureau, and Arseniy Kuznetsov, associate partner
The second example is the prison project in Belgium, which we are currently working on. This is a completely new experience for us. We have concentrated on details that will allow us to maintain a social connection between people who are in prison and the outside world. The height of the fence surrounding the institution is below eye level, so that the prisoners have a visual connection with the wider world and do not feel completely isolated. The task of the penitentiary system is not to completely cut people off from society, but to give them a chance for rehabilitation. Therefore, it is very important to maintain this connection.
Arseniy Kuznetsov: I would add: the landscape and its integration with the surrounding buildings is a very important element for creating a safe environment. The correct selection and organization of plants, trees, landscaping elements in key places can form the necessary visual barriers and provide a sense of security. Most often, this makes it impossible to create rigid fences and completely closed spaces.
Sports school GO!, designed by UAU collectiv in accordance with the principles of barrier-free access. Hasselt, Belgium. Photo source: UAU collective
PM: Do you think that nowadays physical and actual security is achieved not by building physical walls and fences, but by other means? What exactly?
F.V.: We are primarily talking about a society that is able to unite for the sake of a sense of security. Small communities help people feel protected. People together take care of their yard, common space, carry out "neighborhood control". And the feeling of belonging to a group creates a sense of security and a generally safe city-wide environment. By building fences and barriers, we send an alarm signal to society: "Something is wrong! We have to build these fences, because otherwise we are in danger!". And we start building even more fences.
In the end, we do not achieve the goal, but only achieve separation and loneliness. but if we open up, then we give a sign: "Everything is fine!". Of course, before allowing children to play freely outside, we try to remove cars from there to reduce the risks. As a result, we create a calm, comfortable environment.
We start from the presumption that most people have positive intentions. Yes, sometimes something negative happens. But as designers, we cannot proceed from the assumption that danger is the norm. That would be very wrong.
Frederik Vajes, architect, co-founding partner of UAU collectiv office
PM: Another resonant and consistently relevant topic for us is high-rise construction. Ukrainian cities, like most cities in the world, are becoming denser. More and more high-rise buildings are being built in Kyiv, Dnipro, Odesa and other centers.
Yes, it is a spectacular and energy-efficient architecture, but any high-rise building project gathers a lot of negative reactions. And very often critics cite low-rise Europe as an example, although the number of new high-rise projects makes one doubt that low-rise remains the main European trend. How do Belgians really react to high-rise buildings?
F.V.: The growing height is not a problem, but a reaction to the processes taking place in the world. And for the most part, increasing the altitude is a solution to current problems. For example, the city planners of absolutely flat Cairo have the following approach: expanding, they simply build a new city next to the old one, but according to new standards. There are no such opportunities for expansion in Europe.
I see the problem not in high-rise buildings as such, but in the fact that it is necessary to solve the issue of mobility in parallel. How comfortable are we moving around the city, how convenient are the roads connecting infrastructure facilities? As for Kyiv, you certainly have problems in this sense, but there is also a positive: there is a pedestrian connection between Podol and Mariinsky Park via a new glass bridge, and, in principle, people have enough free space where they can to walk and spend time.
The covered gallery defines the visual boundary of the school territory. Hasselt, Belgium. Photo source: UAU collective
The imperfection of public transport and the transport system in general is a much more serious problem for the city than the skyscrapers themselves. We have to consider everything in a complex way, and the decision to build each new building should be made taking into account and connected with the transport model: with public transport routes, on foot and by car - depending on how people prefer to move around the city.
After all, it is these connections that form an active environment that allows you to move between locations without using a car: by public transport, on foot, by bicycle, with the help of micromobility or car sharing. In our practice, we always try to create a person-oriented environment, not a car-oriented one.
By building fences and barriers, we send an alarm signal to society: "Something is wrong! We have to build these fences or we are in danger!”
In Belgium, in Antwerp, tunnels are being built to lower traffic in the central part of the city underground. New high-rise buildings are either connected to this tunnel or are in close proximity to it. That is, people can drive as close as possible from this tunnel, park their car in the underground parking lot and walk to the high-rise building at ground level.
A.K.: In Kyiv, there is a highway that runs along the embankment (embankment highway — ed. note), actually interrupts the connection between the park zone and the water. But access to water is extremely important for the city, or rather, for the well-being of people in this city. In theory, a solution could be found to recreate this connection, hiding the vehicular traffic from view and providing the townspeople with a stunning recreation area, safe, free from noise pollution and reintegrated into nature.
But, of course, in order to be able to implement such a project, financing is necessary. If developers are allowed to build on certain relevant sites in the central part of the city in exchange for participation in the financing of such connections, then such projects can be mutually beneficial.
Arseniy Kuznetsov, architect, associate partner of UAU collectiv bureau
PM: Tunneling is a very resource-intensive, expensive construction. In Antwerp, are such projects implemented at the expense of public investments or public-private consortia?
F.V.: This is a joint cooperation, private investors have taken over part of the costs of the construction of the tunnel, on the condition that they will have the opportunity to connect their facilities. This will make real estate more attractive in the eyes of people who want to buy an apartment in a new building or rent an office. But such projects can be implemented not only to ensure connection with water.
They can also be implemented in the central part of the city. Of course, taking into account the specifics of the terrain and the available metro. Such an approach allows you to clear the streets of automobile traffic and make them pedestrian, creating an environment that is as comfortable as possible for life.
Sports school GO!, designed by UAU collectiv in accordance with the principles of barrier-free access. Hasselt, Belgium. Photo source: UAU collective
Speaking about high-rise construction, I will emphasize an important nuance: it is better to build towers than walls. We walked around Kyiv, and as I saw, on the Left Bank, high-rise buildings are built in such a way that there is practically no clearance between them. You don't see the sky, you see a solid wall that presses down on a person, making him feel small and worthless. This is a very uncomfortable feeling, because it is important for each of us to feel a connection with nature, to see the sky, greenery.
A.K.: In recent years, a trend has emerged in Belgium: representatives of the authorities are trying to stimulate architects to go up, to build taller buildings. Belgium is a small, but very densely populated country, for which problems with mobility and traffic jams are also relevant. In order to optimize these processes and provide the population with housing of a higher level, high-rise construction becomes a priority. In particular, this is done in order to give nature a chance and leave undeveloped areas untouched.
Graduated height allows you to create human-scale buildings, regardless of the number of floors. Project Belair. Brussels, Belgium. Image source: UAU collective
Today, it is almost impossible to get permission to develop new territories, and we try to build in the already existing development spot. Such a policy allows nature to take its course. Recently, the first family of wolves even appeared in the Ardennes, which happened for the first time in 50 years. All over the country, eco-ducts are being actively built across highways, which allows animals to migrate. Restoring ecological connections increases biological diversity, which ultimately enriches people.
F.V.: In practice, we are often inspired by nature. We observe how everything is arranged in the natural environment. For example, trees also have certain proportions, they form a microclimate under their crown that is comfortable for people. And this can be projected onto architecture. We have to free the land for the landscape, return nature to the townspeople, at least partially, because it is obvious: if we just build square meters, forgetting about the environment, then such an environment will never be comfortable for life.
Sketch for the Belair project. Brussels, Belgium. Image source: UAU collective
Modern construction technologies allow us to implement many interesting and ambitious solutions, but old-style public construction companies still use outdated technologies. Such old methods do not allow following new trends and trends, create flexible architecture, do not leave freedom for the architect's creativity.
PM: Does your office design high-rise buildings in European countries? Are you focused primarily on low- and medium-rise buildings?
F.V.: Of course, we at UAU collectiv design high-rise buildings. Several high-rise projects for Brussels, such as the Belair reconstruction project, are under consideration. But what dictates the context of one city is not always acceptable in another. One and a half million people live in Brussels, so of course there are high-rise buildings in the capital. Our task, even if we design a high-rise building, is to make it as human-scale as possible.
We introduce a graduated height so that at eye level people see not a wall that goes to the sky, but a green terrace. The environment around a tower or tall building is as important as the architecture itself. It always comes in one set. We never consider a site if there is no possibility to create a quality public space around the site, because in this case the whole meaning of high-rise construction is lost. If there is simply no space, it is necessary to reduce the number of floors.
HasHotel. Hasselt, Belgium. Image source: UAU collective
We focus not only on the site that is earmarked for development, but also consider the territory in an urban context. Are there parks within walking distance, public spaces where people can go? If so, then in this case the site can be built more densely. If there are no such places nearby, then we try to create them either within the site or inside the building.
We actively use roofs, galleries and terraces, which we reserve for public functions: cafes, restaurants, libraries. It could be anything: places where people would spend their free time communicating with each other. You can create entire parks inside the building itself. And in the context of Kyiv, it is possible to transform existing structures into places suitable for comfortable pastime.
PM: Currently, the Ukrainian architectural community is actively discussing the initiative of our deputies to reform the construction industry. One of the legislators' proposals concerned copyright.
It was proposed that the architect must transfer copyright property rights to the customer. This caused a huge outcry, and after long discussions, this clause was removed from the draft law. But the sediment remained. How is the copyright situation in Belgium?
F.V.: In Belgium, everything depends on the contract that we, the architects, conclude with the developer. If this is a contract for all stages of design, then of course it must be followed. But if it is only for a certain stage, then after completing it, we diverge.
In recent years, a trend has emerged in Belgium: representatives of the authorities are trying to stimulate architects to go up, to build higher buildings
In Belgium, there is no separate law that would regulate relations between participants in the construction process. But there is European law, which is very clearly formulated that the author of the idea retains all rights to his idea. Any changes to the concept must be agreed with the authors. Only the architect can sign the paper, which indicates what changes can be made to his concept, or allow it to be transferred for further development.
Developers must agree with the architect. If this does not happen, then the architect can go to the European court and win the case with a hundred percent guarantee. Inviolability of copyright is the key to creativity, and creativity gives development to everything. Without creativity, there is no innovation, no economic growth. Neither to the country, nor to the city.
European copyright declarations are designed to ensure the protection of the creative part of society: everyone has the right to self-expression, including the protection of their ideas, their commercial and copyright rights. The absence of such guarantees would have a very negative impact on the entire architectural field.
Architects Frederik Vayes, co-founding partner of the UAU collectiv bureau, and Arseniy Kuznetsov, associate partner
If copyright is not respected, Ukraine may once again return to the standardized architecture in which the countries of the Soviet bloc lived for 70 years. Because creative people will leave it. Many people are interested in working abroad, as it gives the prospect of new opportunities, new meetings, and getting to know a new culture. This is a mix that gives rise to an original, new look at things and processes. And it allows a person to grow as an architect. I believe that development is impossible without this.
PM: We discussed with you the three most painful topics for our architectural community. And what worries and is the subject of discussions in the architectural environment in Belgium?
F.V.: There are several global problems. In particular, it is too high public interest in politics. Politicians argue endlessly about various things, and in the political field, all processes are very long, because it is necessary for all parties to reach a consensus.
As for the architectural sphere of Belgium, today I do not see any significant problems. The state has invested heavily in education, and this education is free. In addition, each city has its own Baumeister - this is a person who controls construction in his region and coordinates development in accordance with modern trends. These people are detached from politics and have no direct connection with it. But, of course, there is always an indirect connection, no matter what we talk about.
She was talking Iryna Isachenko
Photo: Maxim Drobinenko
