The reception pavilion of the Gruuthuse Museum in Bruges is centrally located between the Church of Our Lady, the Gruuthuse Palace and the Stone Museum. It re-encloses the centuries-old ‘court’ and draws the site back together to form a historical whole. In this context of exceptional heritage value, the pavilion is a thoroughly contemporary construction – an exoskeleton of steel and glass – that still manages to echo the formal gothic and neogothic language of the surrounding monuments. It is designed as a folded steel structure, based upon the structural principle of the folded plate, with roof surfaces made of 6 mm flat steel and columns of 8 mm flat steel. The larger inclined surfaces of the canopy are locally stiffened with 10 mm thick welded fins whilst the vertical end surfaces take the rigidity they need from IPE 100 ribs. The elaborate detailing of the steel structure enhances the architectural expressiveness of the construction.
