Outside, the introduction of flood defences, a stabilising planting scheme and elevated walkways to ‘glamping’ cabins, aim to negate the impact that inclement weather has historically had on the site, the practice said.
It will feature a lightweight linear ground-floor extension, with floor-to-ceiling glazing offering views of the woodland beyond.
The design includes three separate stairways, with an external spiral steel staircase leading to an open-air rooftop viewing deck, cut into the pitched eaves of the tannery.
London-based Jonathan Tuckey Design described the building as ‘an imposing 60m-long horizontal monolith’ , adding that its ‘vacant shell rises from a river confluence, a substantial reminder of 20th-century industrial decline’.
The project, designed in collaboration with Belgian practice BC Architects & Studies, will give a new lease of life to the Viroinval Tannery, situated in an area of natural beauty in the Walloon region.
As well as BC Architects & Studies, Jonathan Tuckey Design will be working with BAS bvba (structural engineers), FTI (M&E) and Wouter Rommens (ecologist).
