San Martino | Michael Lammens

Somewhere in between the misty meadows of Nevele, on the corner of a newly developed business compound, lies the company of San Martino in the form of a long concrete volume.

San Martino is a fashion house that styles several clothing brands, develops collections and organises logistics towards specialised clothing shops, inside and across the Belgium border. On the ground floor the building contains office space for administration and development, two showrooms, a dispatching area, and a hangar for storage. On the first floor there is a third showroom with storage and a series of multifunctional spaces for holding receptions, meeting with clients, developing the collections, etc. The open spaces on the first floor are organised around a central patio, making it a bright flexible whole that embrace the possibility of new functions towards the future.

The compact nature of the building, the excessive use of isolation, the blocking of the sun by using canopies and vertical concrete slabs, the low energy consuming heating & ventilation & lighting design all contribute to the fact that this is a Co2 neutral building.

Sitting on the corner of the compound, the building is directed towards the acces road as well as the entry road of the compound.

Towards the entry road, the building is fully transparent, allowing a visual contact with the outside and allowing a maximum of light to interact with for the office space on the ground floor, and the multifunctional areas on the first floor. The ground floor is inclined towards the first floor in order to avoid the south sun from heating up the office space

The side of the building has a more semi-transparent character, allowing only a glimpse to be seen of the showrooms behind. A series of concrete slabs form the skin of a deeper lying glass façade. In between the access road and the fragmented wall, a buffer of a miscellaneous tree formation incorporate the building in its surroundings. The fragmented wall is in fact a projection of this tree formation. Approaching the building from the access road, the same patterns of the miscellaneous trees in front are to be seen in the concrete skin. This principal refers to the techniques that are being applied for developing new textures & patterns in fashion.

Amidst the misty meadows of Nevele, on the corner of a recently developed business compound, rises the company of San Martino in the form of a long concrete volume. San Martine is a fashion house that styles several clothing brands, develops collections and organises logistics towards specialized clothing shops.

The ground floor of the building contains office spaces for administration en development, two showrooms, a dispatching area and a storage hangar. The first floor contains a third showroom with storage and a series of multifunctional spaces for receptions, meetings with clients, developing collections … These open spaces are organized around a central patio, making it a bright and flexible whole that embraces the possibility for potential future uses.

The compact nature of the building and the shielding of the sun through canopies and vertical solid slabs, along with good insulation and the energy efficient heating, ventilation en lighting design, contribute to the quality and performance of this CO2-neutral building.

Sitting on the corner of the compound, the building is directed towards the access road as well as the entry road to the compound.

The building is fully transparent towards the entrance, creating a visual interaction with the surroundings and allowing for maximum daylight in the office spaces on the ground level and the multifunctional spaces on the first floor. De ground level is pulled back from the first floor in order to prevent the midday sun from overheating the offices.

The building is incorporated in its surroundings by an assortment of trees that form a buffer between the access road a series of concrete slabs that make up the fragmented side wall of the building. These slabs are in fact an abstract projection of the treeline and form a skin over a deeper lying glass façade, allowing only a glimpse of the showrooms behind it to be seen. When approaching the building from the road, the pattern of the treeline in the front is similar to that of the concrete skin in the back. This refers to techniques that are being applied in developing new textures & patterns in fashion.