Designs Redevelopment of St. Peter’s Church Vught
Project information
Location: Vught, The Netherlands
Project type: Multifunctional Cultural Centre
Design focus: Architectural & Structural Design
Project Overview
This academic project involved the adaptive reuse of St. Peter’s Church in Vught, transforming the historic church into a multifunctional cultural centre accommodating a library, the Vught Historical Museum, MIK and the parish community. Both the architectural and structural design of the transformation were developed as part of the project.
The architectural concept introduces a “city within the church”, composed of squares, streets and houses. The programme is distributed across five split-level floors, with each principal square associated with one of the main users of the building. From these squares, visitors can access the various functions or “houses”.
At the centre of the church, a large atrium forms the spatial heart of the new intervention. From the highest level, visitors gradually descend along a continuous spiral-shaped route around the atrium. Conceived as a “street”, this route connects the different squares and functions throughout the building. Transparent walls provide visual connections between the circulation route and the activities taking place within the surrounding spaces.
The split-level configuration was deliberately chosen to preserve the spatial character of the church. Opposing floors are vertically offset by half a storey, allowing visitors to experience several levels simultaneously while maintaining important sightlines through the historic interior. Existing masonry, paintings and architectural features remain visible wherever possible, with the new structure designed as an intervention within the existing church rather than a replacement of its historic fabric.
Structurally, the new intervention was designed to remain largely independent from the existing building, with connections to the historic structure introduced only where required for stability. The new structure was analysed using MatrixFrame, with particular attention given to the curved steel beams surrounding the central atrium. The project also included distinctive glass bridges connecting the circulation system to open workspaces.
In addition to the new design, an extensive investigation of the existing church was undertaken, including architectural, structural, building-technical and building-physics analyses. The historic masonry arches, ribbed vaults, buttresses and load-transfer mechanisms were studied, while existing cracking in the masonry was documented and assessed. Structural verification included stability checks of the masonry buttresses against overturning, sliding and the development of tensile stresses.
Building-performance studies included analyses of daylight, thermal resistance and room acoustics. The existing church was found to have a daylight factor of approximately 3.2% beneath the dome, an external wall thermal resistance of approximately 0.64 m²K/W, and a reverberation time of approximately 2.2 seconds prior to renovation.
The result is an integrated adaptive-reuse concept in which the new architecture and structure are carefully inserted into the historic church while preserving its monumental spatial qualities and making them an integral part of the visitor experience.
Deliverables
• Architectural design
• Structural design and calculations
• Existing-structure assessment
• Architectural and building-technical analysis
• Building-physics analysis
• Floor plans, sections and elevations
• 3D model
• Architectural visualisations
• Structural details and concept studies
