Transforming a vast Belgian warehouse depot into a human-scaled business park, MaMu Architects have used earth tones including rust red to signal the change of use. We talk to director Kato Van Nerum to find out more.

Laar 26 reinvents a deep-plan industrial shed through a combination of creative reuse and new architecture. How did you approach the project?

Laar 26 addresses the circularity of a storage depot site near the centre of Lummen. Our client Futurn/Vestra wanted to offer a new mix of workspaces and showrooms suitable for small and medium sized companies. Our masterplan solution was to cut the 55,000 sq m warehouse in two, introducing a new street and better circulation around the site. We re-wrapped the retained half of the building in a neutral white, adding a playful roofline. On the other half of the site, we created four new buildings, using different colours to bring identity and character. The site is close to residential areas, so an important aspect of the project was consultation with local people, particularly to improve access and road safety for drivers and cyclists.

What was the thinking behind the new architecture?

We wanted the new buildings to be expressive of human activity and human scale – unlike the previous vast blank facades, so we introduced warm colour and big areas of glazing. Our starting point was choosing a palette of complementary earth tones, including a corten-like rusty red, a faded terracotta and a sandy hue.

Construction is standard steel frame with infills of standard-grade precast concrete, but we wanted to innovate with colour. We partnered with a local concrete supplier to test which pigments would work in a cost-effective lightweight concrete mix. They created 3m2 test panels so we could match on site against steel plates in standard RAL shades. The powder-coated window frames and areas of profiled steel cladding followed the same colour leads.

What type of occupiers have the buildings attracted?

There’s a wide mix because the new units range from 100m2 to more than 1,000m2, with some tenanted and others owner-occupied. The typical occupier needs retail showroom space, back office and storage – a solar panel company and a supplier of home automation systems are two examples.

MaMu Architects’ strapline is ‘we are not architects’. Can you explain?

What we mean is that we try not to think only as architects. Most of our clients are businesspeople, so our starting point tends to be their operational needs – how can we improve performance. Beautiful buildings are of course extremely important to us but to get there we’ll drill down with our clients into organisational culture, workflows and operational goals.