In 1989, the Austrian architect Hermann Czech argued in a short but powerful text that architecture should henceforth be approached as ‘Umbau’: whether it involves renovation, extension or new construction, architecture is always a continuation of a spatial continuum. Drawing inspiration from his Viennese forebears Josef Frank and Adolf Loos, Czech brings together fragments into new compositions. With the Paddenbroek nature education centre in Gooik, Jo Taillieu Architects has realised a striking building that continues Czech’s thinking and imbues the concept of sustainable architecture with new meaning.

A stone’s throw from Brussels, in the rolling landscape of Gooik, an oversized conservatory stands proudly on one of the ridges. It houses a meeting place centred on nature. The firm responded to the request to accommodate the programme in a new building with a proposal to re-evaluate the existing structures. After all, the seeds of the nature programme were already embedded in the existing architectural ensemble: a house, a barn and outbuildings with a baking oven. A focus on conservation allowed for the creation of a layered architecture and the anchoring of the new programme within the existing structure.