The participants in the Open Call for an extension to the Design Museum in Ghent were probably taken aback when they saw the project brief. After all, they were not only required to devise an interface with the city, but also to resolve the many issues within the existing jumble of buildings. Add to that difficult urban planning and logistical constraints, and it is almost a miracle that two design teams successfully completed the commission.

The 18th-century Hotel De Coninck, a Rococo-style city palace, forms the heart of the current museum. A carriageway in the main building on Jan Breydelstraat leads to a courtyard garden, behind which stands an imposing coach house. Only the façade of this has survived. Together with the screen walls to the left and right of the courtyard, it creates the image of a secluded, perfect world, even though these screen walls merely conceal passages between the main house and the coach house.