Lommel Glascentrum

The relationship between the town of Lommel and glass is down to a natural resource. The use of white sand in the surrounding areas has created sand quarries now used as tourist infrastructures. For centuries, sand has been the main raw material used in producing glass.

Furthermore, given that Lommel does not have a rich historical heritage it has therefore chosen to reinvent itself as a focus for quality contemporary architecture. The development of the Sint-Jan site, with the "Maison de la Ville" (Town Hall) conceived by Jo Crepain, was the start of this new momentum given to the urban centre.

The "Glazen Huis" is an important link in the revaluation of the heart of Lommel. The regional tourist centre was combined with the "Glazen Huis", that is, the Flemish centre for the contemporary art of glasswork. Besides the exhibition of creations in glass, the centre houses a glass workshop, the aim of which is to allow visitors to discover the different existing techniques. The site was fairly small, in a narrow passage between the former village square and the "De Adelberg" cultural centre.

The concept of the new construction includes two spaces. The first is a parallelepiped rectangle with curtain-fascia in ultra light glass on three sides. This six-metre high space houses the exhibitions presenting the glass works. After this space, visitors can also see the workshop where they can see how the glass objects are made. The second space is a cone 8 m in diameter and 30 m high. The base is a dodecagon and the skin is made up of triangular chassis. Two identical steel staircases are suspended inside the cone and, with a spiral movement, they join together on a glass platform at the top of the cone. This layout allows a different staircase to be used for going up and down.

The two staircases start from the basement, from the exhibition area. Here the choice was for curved glass that allows the cone to be closed by two sliding doors. A special visual treat is provided when the cone passes through the horizontal ceiling of the first space. The tower is reflected by mirrors placed obliquely. At the top, the platform in circular glass acts as a panoramic viewpoint for admiring Lommel and the surrounding countryside. The dynamics of the spiral are accentuated further by the lighting. A lamp is placed under each step in perforated steel, and in the evening, the effect is unique.

Philippe Samyn describes the technical conception in these terms: "The structure of the cone is hybrid. The legs of the isosceles triangular frames have a constant length of 156.5 cm in folded stainless steel with a thickness of 4 mm. Their base varies from 207.06 cm (at the bottom) to 23.22 cm (at the top). They hold the laminated single glass of the façades and clasp on virtually the whole length of the spines of 60 mm steel pipes with a wall thickness varying between 4 mm (at the base) to 3 mm (at the summit).

The pipes are affixed mechanically at three points by one or two bolts on each spine. The system therefore looks like a structure in triangular plates where the loads are transmitted from one to the other by shearing along the ridges given that there are no knots. This is therefore a dual morphology of a cell composed of bars coming together in a triangle: a geometrically unstable configuration. Mechanical fixtures at the end of each bar and the tightness of the knots of the spines in folded sheets forming a star-shaped annular knot, nevertheless allow the stability of the unit to be assured, except for the bottom part of the cone, where the summits of the triangular frames have been welded in situ. It must also be noted that the interior shafts of the helicoidal staircases are suspended in the fashion of a Montgolfière nacelle at the high part of the cone, while the exterior helicoidal shafts are practically fixed to each horizontal ring of the cone, which gives them extra stability."

In the construction phase, the horizontal parts of the cone were placed and fitted on top of each other using a crane.

This project also gives great importance to sustainable development. The heat of the glass furnaces is recovered to heat the building. The collected rainwater is used for finishing the glass.

The elegant pointed tower is a new beacon and watchtower over the town of Lommel and an ode to glass and its transparency. Samyn and Partners have also used this project to imagine an ingenious structure in steel.

Text: Marc Dubois