Ghost...

British artist Rachel Whiteread is well known for her original sculptures with which she seeks to express the idea of space, room, void. She does this mainly by making casts of various objects.

In one of her first works, entitled “Shovel”,  she made a cast of her own back and attached a handle on top of it, so that it would resemble a shovel. 

One of her larger scale works, entitled “Ghost” is yet another cast: its mould was an entire living-room in a Victorian house: Whiteread had the walls of the living-room cast in units of plaster that were then mounted together so that the structure and volume of the original Victorian living-room becomes visible. Negative imprints, such as the open fireplace clarifies that we are in fact dealing with the INSIDE of a room.



Rachel Whiteread: Ghost, 1990, plaster, 270x318x365cm



Roubaix art pool

Continuing our series of converted spaces, we present you the transformation of the stunning Art Deco public swimming pool from the northern french town of Roubaix into an art museum.
Built between 1927 and 1932 by the architect Albert Baert, the swimming pool had to be closed in 1985 due to safety problems. But instead of demolishing it and building a new one in its place, it was decided to give it a new function.

Architect Jean-Paul Philippon supervised the ten year repair work, adding a modern entrance building and constructing a special exhibition space in the adjoining former textile factory. Known as La Piscine Musee d'Art et d'Industrie, it opened in 2000. All expectations were exceeded by the 200.000 visitors attracted in the first year. These numbers have been growing ever since. In this manner, Roubaix is a fine example of capitalizing on the industrial past.

The new entrance

www.roubaix-lapiscine.com

synagogue in soho

We continue our series of converted places of worship with the "soho synagogue" in New York. Architect Dror Benshetrit has braught new life to this former fashion boutique. The rather business-looking elegant street window contrastes with the industrial looking prayer hall. The modern elements are inpired by traditional synagogue architecture which include a Menorah made out of bricks with painted arms.

Converted Churches of Maastricht

If you're traveling to the Netherlands this summer, the city of Maastricht offers an interesting option.
Here, the fashion of converting gothic churches into commercial spaces is in full swing. Maastricht can pride itself with 2 such spaces: the Kruisheren Hotel is located in a 15th century monastery. Its unaltered structure is filled with design objects by Le Corbusier, Philippe Starck and Gerrit Rietveld following a concept by Satijnplus Architects.

Kruisheren Hotel (photo courtesy of  chateauhotels.nl)

Further down the street you can find the Selexyz bookshop in a 13th century former Dominican church. The store, designed by Merkx and Girod Architects must be rated amongst the worlds most beautiful bookshops. The building, no longer used as a church for 200 years has had a number of interesting functions: from an exotic animals shop to being rented for receptions. The former altar area now functions as a Cafe.

Selexyz bookshop