Have we become afraid of creating monuments, or have we become afraid of creating buildings that will become old and ugly? KINGS, a 2024 monumental reuse project, addresses this topic in its approach to materials and scale. The project takes on the challenge of transforming a monumental factory building in Delft, NL into a podium for music and culture, a technically and spatially demanding building function. The project juxtaposes materials that can embrace aging in a similar way, namely monumental brick and contemporary steel. This approach to materiality arose from a material study that studies the changing character of the material. As realistically the monument’s level of detail cannot be matched, the project attempts to derive its tactility from the texture of the aging material.
k!ngs derives its name from an abbreviation of the building’s former function as a spirit factory. As the monumental status of the factory building disallows altering interventions, the project proposes the placement of three massive volumes that form a balanced composition with the existing building. The composed volumes accommodate the programmatic requirements of a pop music venue. The spaces amidst the volumes, such as the central atrium, form a light and open contrast with the massiveness of the volumes and initiate an interaction with the monumental building. It creates a route that connects the division between old and new. k!ngs attempts to integrate materials that meet contemporary standards into a context with a monumental character. Like chimney, it takes on a position that focuses on interpreting monumentality in the design of buildings with new functions, forms, and qualities - buildings that long to age.