K&K Kikkenstein analysis

On the Kraaiennest Pad, near the De Kameleon parking garage, I am standing right in the middle of the Kruitberg and Kikkenstein buildings. Having the De Kameleon shopping centre at my back, the Kruitberg building remains on the right and Kikkenstein on left. From this spot, the honey comb structural shape of the Kruitberg building is fully exposed, and the continuous balconies repeated for 10 floors catch my gaze. On left, there is Kikkenstein with its rather linear structure, which makes its curve right where the Kruitberg’s structure ends.

Perhaps it is the refurbished façade, similarly to the case of Kleiburg, Kruitberg looks a little more contemporary than Kikkenstein. The blind plinth level and the faded pink colour that run through the balconies makes the building look even older and not taken care of. The glass additions that are made at the entrances in the beginning of 2000’s look already very old from far away. The underpass that leads the Kraaiennestpad to the other side of the building does looks dark. Together with the grass on the floor, all colours on and around the building seem faded.

If it’s the midday or in the afternoon between 4pm and 6pm, a lot of people use the Kraaiennest pad where I’m standing. There are the residents of Kikkenstein walking towards the shopping street of De Kameleon, or to the Kraaiennest metro station. There are also many residents of the Western K-buurt, where there are smaller apartment buildings and single family homes, making use of this path to reach the Eastern side. Around the path there is a vaste green space that fill up the space between the housing blocks. Walking inside this space feels always too long, and there are not many people using it for a leisure activity although few benches are place in certain locations. Usually men make use of these benches. When there are no people around, there is an attack of birds around the benches, looking for some food that is left behind.

At the other side of the path, there is a quite large parking space, which feels more like an urban street with cars parked around. The reason to this could be that the parking space works as a good connection between the walking and bike paths in the middle of the green spaces and the shopping centre. Walking from here towards De Kameleon, it is possible to observe many people also using this space as a hanging around area; people are sitting in their cars with doors open, eating their food or sipping their cans, or even people on top of the thick fence that surround the parking space.

Following the Kraaiennestpad towards west, it naturally leads me in front of Kikkenstein. At this point, which is the public side of the building, I notice 3 main elements. The first one is the sidewalk. It is quite large, of around 4 meters, but it looks even larger because there are no active facades that open to this element. The sidewalk is a bit mouldy, with chewing gums and cigarette buds stuck all around it. Now and then I can observe some flying trash around. There are no physical elements on the sidewalk, rather than the doors to the residents’ storage spaces, occasional bushes in pots, the entrances to the upper plinth level, and the grofvuil spots which can be recognised from the different pavement and indications with signs. Right before the grofvuil collection days, these spots are full of all kinds of trash, other than the furniture-related garbage that the grofvuil spaces are made for.

The empty plinth is the second element that catches my eye. It is empty in the sense that it doesn’t have an active facade; the only openings on this continuous wall are the doors to the resident’s storages. The only activity on this level is a kindergarten, and of course, the 3 underpasses that interrupt the plinth. The underpasses are quite low and only the underpass where the Kraaiennestpad passes through seems to work as a connector from one side of the building to the other. During the day there are not many people passing from the sidewalk, since many residents are at work. In the afternoon, this space is very busy with people hanging out around the plinth, people coming from work, or going for grocery shopping, children coming from school. Although during the day the plinth level and the sidewalk feel very anonymous (as if it’s no one’s land), at busy times many people stare at a visitor like me, as if they know I’m not from there or neither there for visiting someone specific.

The sidewalk is adjacent to a driveway, which is the third element. It is an easy space for the cars to get close to the building and stop at. Sometimes cars even park all the way on the sidewalks. Since there are not many people entering or leaving the building during the day, it becomes possible for many trucks and cars to park on the sidewalk. In the afternoon, the residents come closer with their cars, to leave their heavy groceries. Also the families who are there to pick up their kids from the kindergarten stop there shortly with their cars. In the evening the driveway becomes more of a social space.

The fourth element is the upper gallery that is closed by glass, and the fifth element, or better, group of elements consists of the entrances that lead directly to this gallery. These two are the last architectural interventions that were made at the building for upgrading its connection with the street. The architects preferred transparent materials perhaps for exposing the public functions to the outside. This works in a way because it is interesting to see that many people pass by from the upper level as much as from the ground floor level. Also interesting to notice that these galleries are used more often by the elderly and the children.

There are certain openings on the driveway, where the underground containers are placed. Other than these, there are no trash cans, which endangers the daily functioning of the underground containers; the residents that can’t find the cans for throwing their small piece trash, make use of the underground containers, which get easily blocked if small trash is tossed. It will be later on observed in this analysis that the containers are often blocked, leaving no more choice for the residents to throw their garbage bags next to them.

The combination of the garbage bags around the driveway, the not-correctly disposed grofvuil, and the small pieces of trash on the sidewalk definitely doesn’t give this building a good impression. The municipality, the cleaning department and perhaps also the residents from other buildings reflect this bad impression of the built environment towards the residents. However, it is also shown with the social interventions throughout the year that the touching upon the behavioural aspect does not offer new insights or solutions to the issues related with trash.

Crossing to the other side of the building, the atmosphere completely changes. Here, the only path that is being actively used seems to be the Kraaiennestpad. Although there are the same doors that lead to storage spaces, there is not a path to walk towards these doors at this side of the building. The grass begins as soon as the building ends. The entrances to the building are placed at the extremes of the building, also at the first floor. The ground levelling has been adjusted so that the walking path can gradually lead upstairs.

This seems to be part of the architectural interventions at the plinth level; with this intervention, all the public functions and connections were removed from the ground floor to the first floor. However, from this side of the building this intervention ends up being quite problematic because of the underused space that is created at this side. Although there are no people passing by from the ground level, looking up the private balconies of the apartments can be seen, which give an intimate feeling to this area. This intimacy is highly contrasted with what is present again on the ground level; trash that is probably tossed through the balconies, not-cared grass, plastic bags stuck on the branches of the trees.

The issues related with trash on this side of the building are also concluded with the wrong behaviour of the residents. Considering the extreme situation at this level, this assumption could be perhaps true. This analysis however, aims to look at the question differently; how does the configuration of the built environment play a role here? Or, could there be another maintenance response by the city government for this kind of rhythm combination which takes shape based on inactive zones?

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  • K&K Kikkenstein analysis
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