Studio Basta: Wu Wei is a renovation project of two mansions and an adjoining old printworks in a well-being centre in Kortrijk. The site of 5000m² is a unique combination of hotel, restaurant, spa, seminar and meeting rooms. The project is located at the back of the station in the middle of a residential neighborhood of stately mansions and city gardens. In the existing site, new open spaces were created by breaking down old volumes and adding new ones in which several smaller gardens were constructed. The mix of the old industrial heritage and a new bright and introvert contemporary architecture, creates an open and intimate atmosphere where light, nature and calm reign. The green spaces between the two reconcile with each other and guarantee a constant pleasant experience in the entire centre.

Just as in the interior, you find various experiences and themes outside. The orchard, herb garden, parking garden, woodland garden, vegetable garden, roof garden and bamboo garden are ‘arranged casually’. Both trees, shrubs, creepers, herbs & vegetables, bulbs, aquatic plants and various structuring foliage plants seem to have arisen naturally. The choice of the plants is based on color, smell and texture.

The architects worked closely together for the entire project and in particular the choice of materials. Old industrial concrete floors were retained, new ones were constructed in mortex. Inner and outer walls were painted in the same color. Similar wood elements are used inside and outside. A good example is the rooftop pavilion and the lockers in the spa in recovery scaffolding wood. But also the coating in mortex of the swimming pool and all bathrooms in the hotel shows a close collaboration between interior designer, architect and landscape architect with a sense of unity and a blurred line between inside and outside as a result.

Within the sequence of smaller, successive, green spaces, there is a clear duality. A hidden and barely visible old chimney tower was released and has become the new reference point of the site. The driveway and parking are wild, rugged and spontaneous. Once passed the tower, everything is serene and controlled.

Landscape Architecture: Studio Basta (FB)
Name: WuWei (hotel, restaurant, wellness centre)
Owner: Mr. Jo Heirman – WuWei
Location: Kortrijk – Belgium
Surface: 5.000m²
Conception year : 2011 – 2012
Construction year : 2012
Photographer: WuWei and Studio Basta