Text description provided by the architects. The Artist Residences at MASEREEL, a contemporary arts center and international residency for graphic arts and printed media in Belgium, rethink temporary lodging for artists as a compact, circular, and adaptable building embedded in the wooded landscape of Kasterlee.
The project replaces a series of A-frame pavilions from the 1970s that had reached the end of their technical life. After fifty years of use, the existing lodging suffered from wood rot, sinking foundations, and outdated thermal comfort. One A-frame pavilion is retained on site for future renovation, preserving a physical reference to the former typology while allowing the new residence building to rethink the program in a more compact and collective way.
The brief called for a future-ready residence for artists, researchers, critics, academics, and students who stay at MASEREEL to work, reflect, and exchange knowledge. Rather than rebuilding the former pavilions one by one, {define} architecture and FRANTZEN et al. developed a collective typology that brings nine living units together in one compact volume for up to 26 residents. Shared spaces, sheltered outdoor areas, and a new meandering landscape path support both individual retreat and informal exchange.
The circular form is not treated as a formal gesture but as an organizing principle. It structures circulation, views, collective life, passive shading, and the relationship with the surrounding trees. The building is positioned along a path that connects four other circular structures on the site, strengthening the spatial coherence of the MASEREEL campus. On the upper-level terraces, residents come close to the wooded environment, almost among the tree crowns, making the forest part of the daily experience of the building.
As a pilot project within the European Green Deal for Circular Construction, the project explores how public cultural infrastructure can become more adaptable, resource-conscious, and low-tech. Circularity defines the construction logic. A central CLT core and three external steel rings form the primary load-bearing system.
Timber beams span between them, allowing the internal and façade walls to remain non-load-bearing. This separation between permanent and adaptable layers makes future reconfiguration possible without major demolition. The structure is designed for non-destructive dismantling, material recovery, and long-term adaptability.
The material strategy combines reuse, biobased construction, and reversible connections. Roof slates from the former pavilions are cleaned and reused as façade cladding, while reclaimed cobblestones are cut and repurposed as accessible landscape paving. New materials are selected for their low environmental impact and ability to be connected reversibly. The project is guided by the GRO sustainability framework and includes a materials passport and life-cycle assessment approach.
The climate strategy follows a low-tech logic. Circular terraces wrap around the protected volume and provide passive shading, reducing overheating risk and limiting dependence on active cooling. The result is a calm and robust residence building that strengthens MASEREEL as a public place for artistic production while demonstrating how cultural infrastructure can become more circular, adaptable, and closely connected to its environment.
