leieboorden

The Leie River has been enlarged and modified to allow bigger barge traffic. This is at the origin of the transformation that their margins have experienced in recent years as it passes through the city of Kortrijk.

These interventions have been used by the city to bring changes that go beyond the strict river traffic needs in order to promote urban renewal in the surroundings. A renovation that involves both local objectives, that are borne by improvements in the city itself, and metropolitan objectives, allowing anchor to a territory that goes beyond the city administrative boundaries.

The north side of the river is a loose residential area with some big plots for reuse or transformation. On its south side lies the island of Buda, just separated from the historical center by a secondary arm of the river, and which houses various cultural activities and services.

Our work, conducted jointly with Leiedal, has focused, so far, on two significant parts: Diksmuidekaai and Buda Beach. The first is located on the north bank and the second on the south bank. The vocation of the two is completely different.

The first one, Diksmuidekaai, aims to become a backbone that articulates the whole city north of the river, becomes the basis for future settlements and articulates the city of Kortrijk with nearby towns. It is a model that, after an initial implementation in a segment of about 800 meters, has been used in other stretches west of the first one and will continue to be used to configure the entire urban river front.

It is organized as a linear space with a single pavement (concrete with additives of an earthy color) that subtly separates users through street furniture (benches, bollards and bins) so that it can be shared without too much conflict and create continuity to the whole space between the building facades and the river.

The second one, Buda Beach, is one of the episodes doting the south river bank to form a sequence of public spaces that provide facilities to the more established areas of the city.

This is a landscaped area, intended for leisure, allowing use as a summer beach by providing temporary sand. It is designed as an undulating terrain with large green slopes down from the street to the river that serves as a starting point for the pedestrian bridge that links both sides of it. At the point where the Ijzerkaai bridge reaches the start of the pedestrian bridge, there is a platform under which there is a small building which houses the bar and the public services.

The success of the transformation is obvious to everyone who is familiar with Kortrijk. The banks of the river, once "behind" the city, have acquired new “centrality” values, with many interested developers and where a growing number of businesses and housing are settling, which contributes to the orderly development of the city.