With ABBY, the city of Kortrijk in Belgium will have a new, idiosyncratic exhibition site for visual arts in 2024, with identity as a layered and daring central theme.
The exterior of ABBY Kortrijk (formerly Groeninge Abbey) will be made of a bespoke WasteBasedBrick® developed by StoneCycling. In the process of this bespoke development, 92.750 kg of construction waste is given a new purpose.
ABBY Kortrijk
The historic site of Groeninge Abbey – an old Cistercian abbey from the late 16th century – is being reworked in its unique form language into a timeless, compact and sustainable architectural gem that focuses on heritage.
A new park pavilion, which looks monumental and elegant at the same time, will connect one-to-one with the existing 16th and 19th-century buildings that together form ABBY. Underground, two state-of-the-art exhibition halls will be provided that will expand the site with around 600 m² of extra exhibition space.
Abby Kortrijk is a playful, accessible and polyphonic museum for visual arts that invites you to look differently: at art and heritage, at identity in all its complexity and stratification, at the city, at museums, at people and how they relate to each other.
And now it also invites you to look differently at waste.
The architects specifically looked for a moulded brick with low water absorption for the tapered facade of this new pavilion.
After adapting the recipe of our WasteBasedBricks, extensive tests have shown that we can provide a product with low water absorption as well as a deep anthracite colour in sanded form – perfectly meeting the architect’s request.
Each stone has two specific angles of 78 and 84 degrees.
Abby Kortrijk is an initiative of the City of Kortrijk with the support of the Flemish Government
The design for the exhibition site is the result of a collaboration between FRONT® and the top architects Barozzi Veiga and Tab Architects, supplemented by Koplamp Architects as restoration experts.
Production is currently in full swing and we expect delivery in the autumn of 2023. The museum will open in the autumn of 2024.
We’re excited that you are interested in developing a custom made brick or brick slip. You can schedule an intake here.
Do you need some advice to make the right decision? Our brick experts are here to help.
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