Type: Artist Residency
Location: Ghent
Team: Vrije Universiteit Brussel
DROLEDY is an artist residency located along a historic heritage path in the heart of Ghent’s Patershol district. The residency is an extension of the Drongenhof Chapel, the former chapel of the refuge house of the Norbertine Abbey of Drongen. Since the 14th century, Drongenhof served as a sanctuary for the abbey’s inhabitants, later expanding to include a chapel and monastery. The current single-nave Late Gothic chapel, dating from 1607, functioned as a refuge house until the abbey’s dissolution in 1789. afterward, the building took on various roles, including use as a storage space, and today it stands as a museum site with a strong historical and architectural identity.
The chapel bears the marks of centuries of transformations: diamond-shaped mason’s marks, diverse renovation phases, and an impressive wooden pointed barrel vault all testify to its rich past. Within the Patershol, the Drongenhof Chapel was protected as a monument in 1970.
The design of DROLEDY is intended as a space for encounter, research, and creation, exploring the synergy between heritage, museum experience, and contemporary art production. The proposal transforms the chapel into an artist residency where three artists can temporarily live, work, and present their work. The historic space is not filled in but instead gains a new layer that respects and enhances its existing character.
The intervention creates a flexible environment for artistic research, production, and public events such as exhibitions, workshops, and presentations. Through a thoughtful approach to scale, material use, and reversibility, a contemporary addition emerges that enters into dialogue with the existing architecture.
The design departs from the qualities of the monument: the spatiality of the chapel, the traces of the past, and the unique atmosphere of the place. With minimal interventions, it seeks to maximize spatial and programmatic potential, where heritage and contemporary creativity reinforce each other.
The project began with a conceptual exploration at the sketch design level, focusing on the relationship between the existing chapel and the new interventions. The design was then refined using a 3D model and integrated visualizations based on realistic images of the site. The further design process concentrated on developing a coherent architectural intervention that is both functionally and spatially compelling.
In the final design, the communication of the architectural narrative is central: a design in which past, contemporary art, and future users come together.