The Current

Pelt transformed old town hall into circular experience campus

After the merger of Overpelt and Neerpelt, Pelt brought the administrative services of the municipality together in the town hall on the Old Market. The old town hall of Neerpelt was renovated into experience campus De Stroming. The circular renovated building housed the library, the House of the Child, Child and Family and the council chamber, ceremony room and meeting rooms of the municipality.

Adaptable building
The Stroming is a fine example of circular construction. The building embraces the future and winks at the past. It can be adapted to new activities and takes into account innovations yet to come. By positioning the columns correctly, SCOOP Architects gave the building a new interpretation without having to change the structure. Thanks to those movable columns, the building can also be given a completely different interpretation again in the future, for example as a conference center.

Circular materials
The architects started from what was already there. As much as 80% of the concrete from the old town hall was retained. They also wanted to use as many recycled materials and materials with a gold cradle-do-cradle certificate as possible. They had old facing bricks from one of the demolished parts of the old town hall recovered to brick the new exterior walls. Reclaimed wood was used to make trusses for the new roof of 1 part of the experience campus.

The interior walls were plastered with natural lime plaster, and the old metal shelving from City Hall was given a second life in the library. As flooring, Pelt chose carbon-neutral carpet tiles and full wood rather than glued slats. To avoid pouring additional concrete into the ground, gravel cores - columns filled with gravel - were poured in place of concrete foundation piles.

Reusable parts that don't damage the building
The ecological footprint of the building was also kept as small as possible. By applying the principle of reversible joints, parts can be broken down without damaging the building, and can easily be reused in other buildings. For example, the new exterior facade around the library of De Stroming is completely detached and is connected to the old building only by the new exterior joinery. The steel structure of the new roof section of the library is also reversible.

Solar panels and geothermal energy
Green energy was also considered. The Stroming receives power from solar panels and is heated and cooled with heat pumps that pump up hot water from deep underground via geothermal energy.

Place of meeting for all Peelers
The result: a flexible, orderly building where different activities can take place together. An open place with many sitting and reading corners and areas where everyone can meet. Ideal for a lunch break, short break in between or small consultation moment. Or as a work or study place for a few hours.