The former fire station in Kortrijk has recently been bustling with activity once again. Now that the non-profit organisation Deelfabriek has moved into the building, it is once again serving the urban community, this time in a fully open and accessible manner. Where ladder trucks used to drive in and out, people now come together to share, borrow or meet each other. In its design, the Ghent-based firm Atama (formerly Trans architectuur stedenbouw) engages in a dialogue with the listed building. The result is a reflection on the building, its new function and its image.

The barracks, a streamlined volume with long ribbon windows, were built at the end of the interwar period by the Kortrijk architects Dutoit, Pauwels and Van Spranghe. The brick façade in brown and red tones is a play of volumes and is accentuated by glass sections of various sizes and shapes. The horizontality of the building is broken by a monumental tower, which attracts attention with its lantern and the slender spiral staircase that leads to it. The building is part of a dense block in a densely populated neighbourhood, but has had no fixed programme since the fire brigade left in the 1980s.