The Z33 project, designed by the emerging Italian architect Francesca Torzo, proposes the extension of the House of Contemporary Art, Design and Architecture in Hasselt, Belgium.
Based on the historic complex of beguinage (an ancient convent), the project redesigns an island in the urban fabric, where the garden is enclosed by a wall of inhomogeneous brick buildings, and consists of two buildings: the existing museum and the extension.
The new building form responds to the context: towards the city it folds to accompany the street walkway; towards the garden it folds to welcome the garden in a niche, echoing the facade of the XIX century neighboring Gin factory.
The new building reinterprets the expression of the XVIII century buildings, disposing an almost blind wall towards the street and displaying a score of windows towards the garden; the facade of 60 meters long and 12 meters high is made of bricks in contrast with the interiors, where the rooms vary in size, proportion, light and atmosphere, offering plural perspectives and views of the space.
The Z33 project by Francesca Torzo won the first Italian Architecture Prize 2020 for the Best building completed in the last three years.
