The V-Tex site is tucked away in a green inner area in the middle of a lively working-class neighbourhood in the heart of Kortrijk. Among the small-scale buildings, a brutalist concrete structure rises up a rough, gaunt witness of the industrial past ready for a new story.

In this striking skeleton, I designed a concept hostel for young people and people young at heart. Starting from the properties of textiles — binding, rhythmic and layered — I translated the site’s past into a new collective residence. The existing grid structure became my guideline: a grid that acts as a pattern along which people cross, meet and live together. By following the grid, generous living spaces are created in which interaction and connection are central.

At the same time, this structure opens up powerful sightlines to the surrounding the Sint-Jans district, so that the building does not close itself off, but literally and visually anchors itself in the neighbourhood. This creates not only internal cohesion, but also an open dialogue with the surroundings.

As a new skin, a layer of long, textile curtains embraces the building. This soft shell provides security, filters light and sound, invites interaction and subtly refers to the site’s textile past. The design thus weaves past, present and encounter into a place of meaning.