Wispe
brewery

he Sint Laurentius Church is a neo-Gothic cruciform church designed by Theo Asseler and built in 1876. As part of an intensive renovation in which the foundation was also repaired, we were asked to design a brewery and tasting room for Wispe. When you are asked to transform a building with so much characteristic individuality, it requires a certain humility in design choices. These choices must be limited to the bare necessities and not compete with the existing ones.

 

Modest interventions and a certain restraint in the use of materials and colors have created an interior that enhances the existing spatial qualities of the church and brings the light back deep into the nave. The challenge in this project was to realize a calm appearance that does justice to the monumental appearance of the church, despite the multitude of facilities (brewer house, tanks, bar, kitchen) and installations. Immediately upon entering the bar, which is placed like a contemporary altar in front of a light marble tap wall, catches the eye. The copper brewing kettles are positioned above on a new entresol and are inclined slightly over the bar. The old sight lines have been optically reconstructed by means of mirrors. The lighting fixtures designed for this project are placed against the existing columns and illuminate the arch construction. The new catering mezzanine is placed loosely between the existing arches and has been designed as slender as possible to disturb the original articulation as little as possible