068 BELGIUM
In the Netherlands his firm designed several residential projects in Amsterdam: apartment buildings in Houthaven, De Prinsendam, and the Andreas Ensemble. Also in the city, built with ultimate flexibility and intended to last 200 years, a building called Solid 11 faces the van Lennep canal, and currently the firm is completing the third phase of housing along Den Helder Molenplein in Groningen in the north of the country. In Switzerland there will be a major building in Neuhausen Am Rheinfall, and in Copenhagen there is a new apartment building in the complex and historically significant district of Frederiksstaden. Also in Denmark, completed to great acclaim in 2008, the Fuglsang Museum is as much about landscape as it is about art. As remarkable as any of its projects, that was followed in 2009 by the British Embassy in Warsaw, with a blast-screen façade of glass, a project that is also well- suited to its parkland setting. Since the turn of the century, Britain has been attempting to rebrand itself through its embassies. Fewer sumptuous palaces designed by latter-day George Gilbert Scotts, and more buildings that advertise self-confidence in a modern way; out with imperial superiority, in with the understated refinement of Tony Fretton. Tus, in Poland, a sleek, minimal box of glass and bronze set between neoclassical stucco
buildings in Łazienki on the edge of the city. It was the first embassy to be awarded BREEAM Excellent status.
‘Designed in Hackney, built in Belgium’ has a strange ring to it. But in Fretton’s case, a steady stream of projects, nominations and awards over the last 15 years make the unlikely not so remarkable. Te offices of the European Foundation House Centre (EFC) are located just behind the Belgian Parliament on Rue Royale in Brussels. EFC is a non-profit membership organisation of more than 230 foundations and corporate founders. As part of the social and environmental responsibilities of the association’s members, the aim was to develop an existing building as sustainably as possible. Originally designed in 1988 by architects Samyn & Partners and clad with natural white stone, and with double glazing, according to the energy performance expected at the time. Te entire existing structure of the building is made of concrete. In 2011 Fretton made a feasibility study with the aim of demonstrating how to transform an existing office into a passive building. In 2013, it won an award as the first renovated passive building in the Brussels Region.
Ten there was the prize-winning Westkaai residential towers in Antwerp, 165 homes wrapped in Flemish brickwork, and a mixed- use development in Ghent: Dunant Gardens.
But it was in Deinze that Fretton had his first success with the Open Call. A number of things flowed from that: an ability to win competitions, and more work in the Low Countries that in themselves became very influential in the firm’s work in London, heralding a move to a trabeated brick architecture in the majority of its architect-led residential projects and some of its office work. Tey also introduced the idea that a development could be broken up into groups of buildings which appear to have been cohesively developed over time. Many countries contain a city, sometimes more than one, that has acquired world fame while at the same time being an overlooked destination for busy visitors. In Europe, these cities are often places with long histories that morphed into industrial, commercial or trading hubs. Cities like Hamburg, Lyon and Turin can perhaps be seen in this way. In Belgium, Antwerp is one of the most striking examples of this phenomenon of simultaneous fame and neglect. It is one of the great historic cities of Europe. Hectic, sprawling, intriguing, ‘Tere’s something free and artistic about the life here, if one looks for it, perhaps more than anywhere else,’ van Gogh wrote to his brother Teo from Antwerp in 1886. ‘Tere’s gusto and people enjoy themselves,’ the famed artist wrote.
ALL IMAGES: PETER COOK
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