Keetberg pumping station

The Keetberg pumping station in Kallo was in dire need of renovation. The pumping station, owned by De Vlaamse Milieumaatschappij (Flanders Environment Agency, FEM), pumps water from the polder waterways into the watercourse of the Hoge Landen and is equipped with three 110 kW propeller pumps.

The building itself consists of two ground floor sections and an underground floor, which is the pump room. The entire structure is constructed of a concrete frame structure with concrete floors and a roof slab.

There were two clear conditions within the assignment: the pumps had to remain in operation during the construction works and the concrete structure had to be preserved. In response, a lightweight, highly insulating wall system was introduced that could quickly and easily make the entire structure wind and watertight.

A captivating architectural shadow play

Given the function of the building, we had to deal with several ventilation grilles of considerable dimensions. Owing to these numerous scattered openings in the wall, we proposed to simply extend the required slat structure over the entire wall, including exterior doors. In this way, the building is viewed from the outside as one solid volume with an expressive architectural statement. The required view and incidence of light are assured by doubling the spacing of the slats at the level of the windows, while maintaining the requested protection against vandalism. This creates a fascinating shadow play on the snow-white interior, which forms a strong contrast to the jet-black outer shell.

This appeared in the media:

• Omdat technische gebouwen niet per se het lelijke eendje van de architectuur hoeven te zijn, lees je here een mooi verslag van Archello.
• Pompstation gerenoveerd met oog voor functionaliteit en esthetiek, lees het volledige artikel ui Bouwen aan Vlaanderen here. (januari 2023)
• Functionaliteit primeert bij het ontwerpen, bouwen of renoveren van technische ruimtes en gebouwen. Dat spreekt voor zich. Maar dit wil niet zeggen dat technische gebouwen per se lelijk moeten zijn. Lees het volledige artikel van Architectura here.
• Het pompstation Keetberg te Kallo was dringend aan renovatie toe. Voor het bekleden van de gevel werd beroep gedaan op DUCO. Bekijk here hun aanpak.