SUPERSTRUCTURE

Sebastiaan Dhaene, Dennis Tavernier

After the realisation of the pizza oven last year they asked us to optimise and change where needed. There was the need of some kind of cover around the oven for a better work environment. When we visited the Asiat-site in Vilvoorde and observed the existing elements there were a few things that caught our eye. At the one hand, you have this open space around the oven that feels quite calming due to the surrounding walls. Because of the triangular shape and the oven in the centre of that space it takes a quite prominent role in its environment. We want to bring that role even more to the front by using the oven as we call it “a superstructure”. The cover and its structure that we add would become one with the mass and the masonry of the oven. By doing this the oven becomes the load-bearing element for the structure of the cover. The advantages of this idea are that you can use the space around the oven as smart as possible because you don’t have columns coming down. The cover takes the shape of an octagon because with its symmetrical form it can equally bring the forces down to the structure of the oven. Possible wind loads that could create the risk of the top tearing off are solved by adding 4 steel cables that go to the ground ore nearby walls. The idea and the design of the cover would ideally be further integrated in the surrounding space under the form of a bench ore a smaller cover (for instance at the entrance of the storage space).